Phil Speight

Ron Hough`s funeral will be at All Saints Church Braunston on Tuesday the 22nd at 12.30pm. I have been asked to post this here by his family so it can be taken that all are welcome.

Generally of whisky - as I think I remember! Good times much missed and hopefully a rematch may be on the cards for early March. Remember all, there had to be a fair degree of marketing involved when I first started Craftmaster. We had all long used red oxide finishes of various kinds on the areas of "traditional" boats that once would have been painted in old fashioned red raddle,which was a sort of brick red colour - although there would have been an amount of variation. I needed a name for the Craftmaster product we introduced for that purpose and, given the colour and the intention that it be used on roofs, decks and gunwhales, "Raddle Red" seemed appropriate. Neither Rylards, nor Rapidpaints nor anyone else had any product of that name in their ranges at that time. A number of our standard colours were lifted by these manufacturers - name included. "Union Green" for instance. I`ve no problem with that - none of us own any colours. Using the same names bemused me a little though! As time wore on people began to ask for the same product - Raddle as in a satin finish enamel - so we made it a range rather than a single colour product. I hope that clears things up and lays to rest any notions that the Craftmaster raddle range is some exotic material deriving from canal history. It`s a damn good paint - but it`s roots lie in the mid 30`s when synthetic enamels were introduced and no earlier.

Yup - It was marvellous. Still is - shame we`re not allowed to use it any more. H&S again.

Red oxide, contrarily , comes in various shades. They`re all red but some have more brown/white/orange etc.It tastes awful in tea by the way...................

in common usage Red Oxide, as a material rather than as a colour, is usually a primer. Craftmaster Raddle Red is a finish - not a primer and the name refers only to the colour. You can be assured Craftmaster, from day one, was very aware of all such distinctions. The bloke who specified all the core products was a trained coach painter of over 30 years working experience. Me in other words.As far as Craftmaster are concerned if you ask them for Red Oxide PRIMER that`s exactly what you`ll get.

Forgot to mention. Craftmaster`s Bilge Paint is, unless specifically ordered otherwise, full gloss rather than satin better to resist oil stains. My young -oldfriend/ex-trainee/colleague/dock foreman John Sanderson took over my boat painting business at Dadford`s Wharf. Craftmaster is now in the capable hands of the Brown family of Over near Cambridge. I sign-write for the one and work as a consultant for the other. Still don`t make the tea though.

When we were building up Craftmaster`s original product range I wanted a suitable name for a satin red-oxide finish that we intended for the roof and decks of "traditional" boats. I had often heard Ron Hough, a close friend , refer to "red raddle" when we were having one of our fairly rare conversations about painting at Nurser`s yard in the old days. We usually talk about normal things - like cricket! Since it was a paint used on the aforementioned bits of boat I decided to call ours "Raddle Red". The colour is British Standard red oxide (if I remember rightly). We were easily able to offer it in other colours since they used the same binder and would therefore perform the same. The use of the name began to spread round the system, particularly after a Birmingham based paint supplier deliberately copied our entire product range although they did it without the use of HMG`s "Craftmaster only" materials. Until then there was nothing on the market called Raddle Red. Entertainingly ( well I find it so ) the same company sold a brushing additive called PPA - without knowing that in a fairly blank moment I had decided some years earlier to call ours "Phil`s Paint Adjuster" which we quickly abbreviated!

Ha ! Well thanks a bunch for not giving this old man a vote! As it happens if my mate Dave is doing it that`s fine by me - got to keep the old gimmer in red wine and whisky after all. However don`t forget folks even though I live in snowy Argyll I have not retired and my location is my problem - not the customers. I arrange trips round a number of jobs to make things economical for all concerned. Just realized this probably constitutes an advert.That being so chaps please free to bin it, no offence meant.

Yo Dave me old buddy, colleague and periodic drinking partner. I`m snowed in in `t glen with only a bottle of Aberlour to keep me from going stir crazy. What a splendid essay on Scumbling! Thank you for including my possibly excessive response to knotting rubbers ! I don`t use them in cabins at all as you know, preferring simpler effects given the occasional spark by medular rays drawn with a "chisel" carved from a rubber eraser. Something I always do is apply dark brown decorative brush work, sparingly, over the graining - an arch of leaf shapes over the curved top of the table cupboard door for instance. I saw such work in`an old cabin decorated by Nurser`s in the early 1950`s ( that`s when they painted it - not when I saw it ) so I breathed a sigh of relief because that demonstrated that I hadn`t been introducing non-traddy fripperies for the previous 30 years. Perish the thought eh! I`m still in awe of graining done by such as Ian Kemp, Steve Priest and a couple of others. Mind you, the two of us don`t do too bad either! The pictures in the OP look fine don`t you think? Someone new to graining actually doing it tastefully. I`d hate to see my first couple of cabins now. Well done chap.

You`re right ! Errr...No. The paint manufacturer has already done that. You should add only an approved brushing additive in modest quantities if the need arises. Relevant - but possibly unpopular in some areas !

I`ve started a separate thread from "Paint pimpling" because I don`t want what I say here to be mixed up with anything I said there ! So, no particular response to something already said and no references to any persons or paintjobs previously discussed. Imagine, in the light of commonly held opinion, a steel narrow boat painted in 2014. It has a full synthetic paint system of good dry film thickness. The word nowadays seems to be that it may well micro-blister and that is because of 2010 legislation banning VOC`s. So, each coat was rubbed down when it was properly through dry ( a good painter can tell, as soon as he/she begins rubbing down whether it really is dry ) and as a result of applying the correct number of coats NETT AFTER FLATTING we have somewhere ( hopefully ) between, say,140 and 200 microns of dry paint. There will be NO VOC`s present in the paint film. Now imagine a second boat, painted in 2008. Apply exactly the same theoretical paintjob as on the 2014 boat - in every detail. Once finished and properly dry we would hope for a similar dry film thickness and - gosh - there will be no VOC`S present in the paint film. The solid content of the paint, in both cases is what remains to be measured on the boat. Everything that accounted for the difference between the wet and dry film thicknesses has gone. Vanished, in fact, into thin air! That`s why the powers that be deemed the legislation necessary - the VOC`s were considered to become harmful once they evaporated into the atmosphere. They always were absent once the paint had dried. Manufacturers may well have to replace the old solvents now but the end result remains the solid content of the dry paint. Pigments remain the same as does U/V protection and any flow agents. Driers, present in all synthetics, act chemically to aid the drying process and are not relevant to the VOC debate. Synthetic systems have not suddenly changed into something else. I`ve done this in a very black and white way because that`s how many people see it. There IS reason for concern and much research is being undertaken and acted upon believe it or not, but it could also be said that the 2010 legislation was a bit of a godsend to some when carelessness and bad practice back-fired on them, although that does not apply to the dozens of diligent professionals out there - many of whom I`ve enjoyed working or arguing/debating/discussing various things with for many years. I`ve also not muddied the waters by repeating things I`ve already said about products that were exempted from the legislation. Mainly because most readers, it seems to me, would rather ignore all that. Last thing. As I`ve said before , the paint manufacturer I have been involved with for years is working very hard to solve what is, in the main, a canal problem ( measured by a comparison of blistering complaints across all markets) and they are grateful to the handful of painters who, despite the difficulties they have occasionally faced, have willingly helped.

Hi - no offence meant David. I take the point but it`s a question of how an individual values the different properties of a material. In my view the danger of moisture penetration is the greater evil than the danger of rust coming through from under the primer. Certainly with the quality of preparation done by John I would not have thought the latter would be an issue anyway. Without both characteristics of the material being taken into account your report of John`s conversation with you made less sense to me than it may otherwise have done.

Your painter, who I trained and who became my close colleague and friend ( with the occasional spat inevitably !) for over 16 years is a hell of a painter - but I don`t actually understand a word of what you have written here ! Perhaps it has not translated well at second-hand since this is a subject he and I have discussed at very great length over a long period. If there is a significant difference between the two types of primer it is that one dries with the film "open" and the other with it "closed". The former is more likely to harbour moisture than the latter if a tradesman does not take care or have the opportunity to counter this. The next bit is not specifically a response to your goodself David and your painter is not targeted in what follows. There is a lot of heresay around about paints , primers and legislation and while there is a foundation for concern in some areas( see above re. primers for instance ) please remember that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. None of the brushing primers commonly used by boat painters is water based incidentally. For goodness sake everybody, paint is a very broad term and you can`t have a "fits all" set of myths and half facts to cover the whole range of materials available for a huge variety of different applications. If I need an opinion on something specifically Alfa related I ask someone who has specialist knowledge - not a guy down the street who has "ad cars fer years mate. Wot ee don`t know ain`t worth knòwin`Them fancy so called experts `ll just bullshit yer..........."etc etc. And, if there isn`t one such somewhere on your moorings - well, that`s a rare place you`ve got .

Sorry to be the odd few days late everybody - but better late than never eh! HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Me last thought ! Why is it that when one business ( mayhap a paint making business) explains a paint related problem no one is willing to believe them while another business , quite often less qualified to actually KNOW the answer (say for instance a boat painting business) is seen as a paragon of honesty ? It has always been so and I`d love to know why. Is a boat painter automatically more plausible than a manufacturer when something goes wrong? And remember please - I say this having made a living for thirty years as a boat painter ! Magic ! Now - it would help a certain painter I know if you could identify a green one for us.