Winter blues question, my prop is in my basement, Stainless 4-Blade, Is it better off polished or not, Would just give me something to do when I have down time, or is there no real worthwhile difference other than how it looks from the person following me down the road.

Here's D.A. H. Props comments on polishing: http://www.dahpropellers.com/Finish.html

JohnC

My personal preference =polished. IMO, for a pleasure boat, go for the look and ease of cleaning. The difference in performance is microscopic imo.

I figured that, I have O.C.D. might polish it just for ****s and giggles.

DAH is a great company won many races using their stuff.

just make sure the guy that's doing it does not remove too much material....

Polishing the prop shouldn't remove any material, drop it in a tub and it comes out polished. Polished props will also be less likely to crack. No speed difference one way or the other.

i used to have my harley rocker arms polished....till they started breaking in a high-stress corner...the guy was removing too much material to make them smooth....just sayin....

Polishing by definition does remove some base metal - just microscopic amounts of it. If one gets too frisky in the polishing process, a lot more metal can be removed.

And remember, there are various methods of polishing. The method you describe with a tub and abrasive media (sometimes called "Vibraswirl") is more of a de-burring light / rough polishing method. Then there's the more conventional cotton wheel / buffing compound method which will give you a higher glass / flatter surface. (I think that's what the OP is proposing.) There are also some pure chemical methods of polishing metals.

And I should add that sometimes a rougher surface (sometimes called "Lab Finished") can lead to greater RPM's and speed.

Frank and Jimmies prop in Ft Laud has a tub polisher and the props come out gleaming like chrome!! It is not a very abrasive method like grinding and buffing wheels, it uses ceramic pyramids that compress and smooth the surface. They look so good it pains me to out them in the water!