How to mount a propeller on the wall?

[sluff]

I have just recently purchased a propeller and I'm curious as to how to mount this thing on my wall. The prop is pretty big: 8 bolt, 9 inch diameter hub, 104 inch overall diameter, 6 1/2 inch thick hub. This thing is pretty massive and I'm afraid the dowel rod mount will not work. Any other ideas? Thanks in advance.

[MWP_Lamar]

If you mean the wall mount Dave designed shown on his web page at
http://www.woodenpropeller.com/preservation.html I have a large wooden prop I hang using it with no problem whatsoever. I have two opposing dowel pins very slightly off center to create a little bit of tension.

Lamar

[sluff]

Thanks for the reply Lamar. I was just a worried that the mount wouldn't support the weight. The dowels seem a little flimsy even w/ 3/4" hardwood. I figure I can mount the wood w/ the dowels straight into a stud w/ a lag bolt.

Thanks again.

Anyone else have 2 cents to add?

[Dave]

You can use threaded rods instead of dowels and use cap nuts or regular nuts to hold it securely, but it's much more difficult to construct than the dowels. Remember, there are 8 dowels carrying the load. I haven't tried to do the math, but you could calculate the equivalent of a single dowel of x diameter. A variation of the same process is just to turn a large center dowel for the center bore, but I like the appearance of the hub in a more natural state.

Since the dowel is acting primarily to prevent shear, it is capable of holding quite a bit of weight, and I think you'd find that even a single dowel would hold it up as long as the hub stays next to the wooden plate. That's one of the other advantages of using 8 dowels. There's a degree of "jamming" the final 1/2 inch because of the slight variance of the dowels to each other, which has the effect of holding it tightly against the wall.