Questions about an interesting pattern in the original paint of an early 20th Century canoe

[Steve Bartlett]

At a recent Norumbega Chapter winter meeting there was a lot of discussion about the pattern in the paint of an early 20th century canoe built by H.B. Arnold, a Charles River builder.

The family of the builder recently donated this canoe to the Waltham, MA Charles River Museum of Industry & Innovation where it is now on display. It has never been restored.

Is the pattern shown in the photos simply alligatoring, from aging/shrinking of the top layer of green paint, or was it intentionally scribed into the paint? The paint is firmly adhered.

Alligatoring I have seen elsewhere usually has a poorly adhered top layer and much narrower cracking. Here there are few if any thin cracks in the paint or filler, and the black areas (cracks) range from about 1/16” to as much as ½” wide in various parts of the hull.

Some thought that the pattern might be intentional given that elaborate paint jobs were in vogue in the early 1900’s and the patterning is attractive.

Has anyone seen a similar pattern on a canoe hull?

 

[MGC]

I have seen similar, not exactly the same, but these kinds of things tend to happen quite randomly. To my eye, that canoe has been repainted at some point. The darker paint, the paint that the "alligatoring" has exposed, was probably not well enough sanded before the newer paint was applied. When follow on paint or varnish are applied, getting adequate "tooth" is critical to avoid these types of "fails".
That said, it is possible that the second paint was original and done by Arnold before delivery. The darker green may have been on the boat and then painted over before delivery to the customer....there is no way to know when the original paint was redone. It is however, without any question, alligatored paint.

 

[floydvoid]

Would you call that more of paint crawl than alligator? I feel like I’ve seen varnish or shellac crawl like that.

 

[MGC]

That may be a better way to describe it than "alligatoring" Either way the paint has pulled and shrunk and obviously not adhered. It's quite certainly not intentional. You can observe a similar crazing on the image of a repainted canoe that is likely just about the same age as the Arnold