best way to clean paint brushes

Leif

phill99 wrote: »

And please enlighten us all: Why on earth are you commenting on a 6 years old post? What goes on inside your head?

It does sometimes take a while to compose one's thoughts.

arunadasi

Go gently -- it's a noob. Welcome, Skinner!

MaggieBaking

phill99 wrote: »

And please enlighten us all: Why on earth are you commenting on a 6 years old post? What goes on inside your head?

It's not 6 years old, the last commenter was a year ago so it is bound to pop up in a search.

I wonder if they wanted to join the forum to ask for advice and thought about giving some of their expertise before sapping some knowledge. I do that, although admittedly I don't search out old posts, I just write some on the current threads.

Leif

rich_jtg wrote: »

If you want the easiest way to clean brushest, that also gets them the cleanest, what you want is a Dandy paint brush/roller kit.

You can get them from some hardware stores and QVC. They aren't really cheap - about £17-20 for a set IIRC, but makes decorating much less of a chore.

It attaches to an electric drill, and throws the paint off at force.

Clean and dry brush/roller in less than a minute. You just need an old box with a bin liner in to catch all the paint as its spun off.

I bought a set on Flea bay, and tried the brush one this evening. For removing oil paint it worked very very well, much quicker than doing it the normal way. I was less impressed with water based paint, then again it is easy to clean water based paint off brushes anyway. There is some spreading of the bristles when I tested it with a cheap brush, not a Purdy. Not sure if that is an issue. I am peeved that the roller attachment does not work with mini rollers which I use for old based paint. Still, if the brush gizmo does not damage brushes (to be determined in use), then I am one happy customer. The units are made from cheap plastic, albeit fairly thick, and they are not exactly cheap given the build quality. But, if they work then they will earn their keep in saved time and brush cleaner.

loracan1

I must have a natural unworldly talent for painting because I only ever use cheap brushes to later throwaway (have done the more expensive/forget to clean thing) and the finish is always excellent.

Leif

loracan1 wrote: »

I must have a natural unworldly talent for painting because I only ever use cheap brushes to later throwaway (have done the more expensive/forget to clean thing) and the finish is always excellent.

What sort of price do you pay? And what happens when you want a cutting in brush and a normal brush? Do you throw both?

Genco_user

One very good brush cleaner that artists have used for decades is baby oil.

imaginarynumber

Skinner58 wrote: »

All new brushes should be rinsed in soapy water before using - to remove loose hairs that could fall out and stick to the painted surface. To keep the shape of brush hairs one can simply wrap the bristles with a strip of rag.

Shouldn't be necessary with a decent quality synthetic brush. I use them straight out of the packet and they dry flat with no need for binding, eg Purdy, Wooster or Corona.

The advice might well be correct for natural bristle brushes but they should be used with emulsion to "break them" in first any way. Even abusing them on walls however is no guarantee that the bristles wont continue to break whilst in use.

imaginarynumber

Genco_user wrote: »

One very good brush cleaner that artists have used for decades is baby oil.

I have also heard that paraffin helps to break down oil based paints. I tried it once but wasn't very impressed.

imaginarynumber

loracan1 wrote: »

I must have a natural unworldly talent for painting because I only ever use cheap brushes to later throwaway (have done the more expensive/forget to clean thing) and the finish is always excellent.

Whenever I have had to use a cheap brush, the finish has been far from perfect, unless one ignores the heavy tramlines and flecks of broken bristle in the finish.