Bit of aggro cleaning paint brush (no, i'm not using water on oil based).

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JustAnotherSaver
JustAnotherSaver Posts: 6,709 Forumite
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Had a bit of a telling as i loaned my mothers paint brush to do some painting at the house. Can't get the paint off the brush though.

I was hitting some wood with some primer today. This primer to be exact: Crown Undercoat Pure Brilliant White.

I noticed the tin didn't say wash in warm water. I forget what it said now - it's exact wording, but i asked someone what it should be & they said white spirits.

No problem, so i scramble for some white spirits & set to. Nope, no joy. It's removed a little from the brush, but it's still very clumpy & tacky.

I'm positive i've used white spirits for non-waterbased paint in the past & never had this problem, so why's it not working this time? & more to the point - what needs to be used?

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  • phill99
    phill99 Posts: 9,093 Forumite
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    You may need to leave the brush to soak in the white spirit overnight.
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  • JACKHANDYMAN
    JACKHANDYMAN Posts: 42 Forumite
    edited 26 January 2014 at 10:47PM
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    Hi, Wrap the brush tightly in a plastic bag, until you can get some white spirit or brush cleaner. If you have some wd40 it will clean the brush! Washing powder sometimes works with water if you are desperate! Sorry just read the post again and if the brush is really thick of paint Thinners will be required
  • trailingspouse
    trailingspouse Posts: 4,035 Forumite
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    Try hot water and some sort of soap (washing up liquid or liquid hand soap work for me).
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  • JustAnotherSaver
    JustAnotherSaver Posts: 6,709 Forumite
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    Well it's currently sitting in hot soapy water just so the bristles don't dry until i can get something else on there, but really? It's doing absolutely nothing. soapy water on something that isn't water based & white spirits isn't touching??


    AFAIK B&Q is the only place that we have around here that will sell anything like what i'll need. We have a Wickes but it's like an extra 15 mile just to get there.

    I threw in "paint thinners" but it only returned this: http://www.diy.com/nav/decor/decorating-supplies/treatments-cleaners-protection/cleaners/-specificproducttype-thinners/Hammerite-Brush-Cleaners-and-Thinners-250ml-9253302?skuId=9261001 & this isn't hammerite metal paint.

    White spirit overnight wont knacker the bristles will it?



    Actually, i remember using hammerite paint on my car & when it came to cleaning the brush, my dad got out some liquid from somewhere & it went through this hammerite paint no problem. It was gone virtually straight away, none of this overnight malarkey. I'm not sure what it was though, where he kept it & therefore if we even still have it.
  • elliot341
    elliot341 Posts: 56 Forumite
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    Hi, if its an oil based paint, are you sure its not methylated spirits you need to clean your brushes (ie the purple stuff)? I have two types of wood primer and one needs white spirits to clean the brushes and one needs meths. The one that needs meths wont clean out using white spirit only. Would be best to check on the tin what it says to clean the brushes in though
  • Ebe_Scrooge
    Ebe_Scrooge Posts: 7,320 Forumite
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    Just a thought - how much would it cost to buy another brush ? I know it goes against the MSE grain to throw stuff away, but it may well be cheaper to buy a new one than spend loads trying out different types of solvent !

    Oh, and the Hammerite point that was raised - Hammerite needs special Hammerite solvent which is not cheap. Any time I use Hammerite I always go down the route of using an old brush or buying a dirt cheap one from the pound shop, and chucking it away afterwards. It's cheaper to throw away a 50p brush than spend pounds on the solvent.
  • JustAnotherSaver
    JustAnotherSaver Posts: 6,709 Forumite
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    Lol, it was inevitable that get a new brush would crop up somewhere in this.

    The problem there is that we're doing this when we get spare time here & there. Sometimes an hour, sometimes a few. That'd be a few brushes.

    It also wasn't special cleaner he used on the Hammerite, whatever it was he had it for years. I couldn't find it so I don't think we've any left.

    Will look at that meths tonight. Thanks.
  • JustAnotherSaver
    JustAnotherSaver Posts: 6,709 Forumite
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    Well here's a bit of a turn up...

    Turns out i wasn't using white spirits after all. It was Methylated Spirits. It was just in the same container as the white spirits that we'd run out of. I text the wife asking her to pick up some meths & she said we'd already got some so i checked & right enough - we do & it's what i was using.

    No white spirits though. I bought from brush cleaner from work today which seems to be fairing a bit better.
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