Prop. Balancing

When balancing a propeller, where is the best place to remove material from the heavy blade?

I would remove material from the usually flat backside of the heavy blade after checking for equal lenght/whith of blades.

I have had lots of experience with carbon fibre props etc. and when you balance props you use "wet & dry" emery paper and water and sand evenly the airfoil section, NOT the rear (pitch) section. When you have finished, run vernier calipers down the blade and check you have not moved the high-point from the correct position.( 25 - 33% back from LE.)
Bandolero.

Don,
I am a confirmed wood prop flyer but am appalled at how crudely many are made. To answer your question first, probably the easiest way to balance the prop is to wipe a bit of CA onto the light blade. this is the way I bring my props into final balance.
When buying props I always take a balancer and a pitch guage to the hobby shop. Pitches are seldom as marked with large dirrerences between blades. I recarve my props starting with 16-5, 16-6 Master, Zinger and Rev-UP props and make them by 1/2" steps into 14-4.5 to 14-6 narrow and wide blade. You can usually make a 5.5 or 6 pitch out of a store bought 6. You can usually make a 4.5 to 5.5 out of a store bought 5 pitch. I use the same balde templates to shape the blades and adjust the areas on my inventory of recarved props. The advantage to recarving props is that it is relatively easy to obtain the pitch you desire and working the props to .003-.005 on width and thickness and balancing perfectly will result in very smooth running and predictability when trying to obtain specific performance with a given engine and fuel. I use the balancer at the hobby shop only to get an indication of relative wood density of the blades. I pay a lot of attention to the appearance of the grain. I carve and finish props (with CA) in about 1 1/2 hours and would rather have a selection of props at the field as opposed to tweaking $50 carbon props between sessions. When I have a prop/props that I really like, I refinish them in eposy black with yellow tips for greater durability and better appearance. To be honest, carbon props scare me even though I always use a starter. I considered doing a video on recarving props but decided the possible liability from suggesting that it is OK to thin blades, even when reducing from 16" to 14" diamenter, is just too great.
Al

The gurus say only sand the front side of the heavy blade. I do that to a point. When the varnish is sanded off, don't go any more. Best to add clear dope to the light blade.

I'll bacK Al Rabe on this one, and Bandolero, Don't mess with the flat (or undercambered) side unless you have a pitch gauge. If it's only a little out of balance sanding the front of the heavy blade may do the job. If it is way out of balance measure the blade thickness to see if the heavy one is a fair bit thicker, If so work away until they are the same thickness. Re-seal with a wipe of thin CA. If at the same thickness it is still out of balance, then start wiping the light blade with CA.

I use a set of toenail clippers to remove material from the heavy tip. ^_-

Taipans are pretty unbalanced, APCs and MA Scimitars usually start out pretty good. I also give them a nice dab of yellow or orange paint on the light tip.

Sometimes an unbalanced prop helps to smooth out an engine!! TRUE! If the piston is too heavy, or the crank counterbalance isn't heavy enough to balance, then the heavy prop blade should be bolted on opposite the piston. i.e. with the piston at BDC, bolt the heavy blade straight up (toward the spark/glo plug).

I don't make these things up.