Best paint brushes

[Glynn]

Thanks.

[WotEver]

1 hour ago, Glynn said:

You reckon do you ?

Yup. To follow...

22 hours ago, dave moore said:

The best varnish is the one you haven’t tried yet

With...

4 hours ago, Glynn said:

So what is the best varnish ?.

what did you expect?

[Machpoint005]

This is probably not relevant to a good quality varnish job, and the professionals will take a swift intake of breath through clenched teeth, but:

 

In general, paint brushes are so cheap now in comparison with paint that a use-it-once-then-throw-it-away is usually the most economical solution. Personally, I can never get a paintbrush properly clean, so provided that the brush doesn't actually shed bristles* in first use, you're laughing. I've recently had two bargain bags of cheapo brushes from Q-shop which have been fine in that regard.

 

I wouldn't expect a coachwork finish, of course, but a uniform coat of paint is usually what's need to protect a surface.

 

 

 

 

*plastic "bristles", that is! 

[mark99]

52 minutes ago, Machpoint005 said:

This is probably not relevant to a good quality varnish job, and the professionals will take a swift intake of breath through clenched teeth, but:

 

In general, paint brushes are so cheap now in comparison with paint that a use-it-once-then-throw-it-away is usually the most economical solution. Personally, I can never get a paintbrush properly clean, so provided that the brush doesn't actually shed bristles* in first use, you're laughing. I've recently had two bargain bags of cheapo brushes from Q-shop which have been fine in that regard.

 

I wouldn't expect a coachwork finish, of course, but a uniform coat of paint is usually what's need to protect a surface.

 

 

 

 

*plastic "bristles", that is! 

I agree with that. I found the brushes sold in Wilco less crap than most crap brushes. If you know what I mean.

 

 

 

 

[dmr]

I get a lot of cheap brushes intending to use once, but I can't bring myself to throw them away. I agree that if you have good brushes like Purdy then there is a need to clean them well which takes a lot of time and white spirit. I try to to run a "downgrading" set of brushes. For good jobs its the Purdy and a good clean, for less important stuff its older brushes that get a bit of a clean but are slowly going downhill/hard (and Wilco are good cheap 'uns). Last of all its epoxy when the brush gets thrown away after a final use. I suppose one day a Purdy might even get down to the epoxy and throw away stage.

 

....................Dave 

[David Schweizer]

51 minutes ago, dmr said:

I get a lot of cheap brushes intending to use once, but I can't bring myself to throw them away. I agree that if you have good brushes like Purdy then there is a need to clean them well which takes a lot of time and white spirit. I try to to run a "downgrading" set of brushes. For good jobs its the Purdy and a good clean, for less important stuff its older brushes that get a bit of a clean but are slowly going downhill/hard (and Wilco are good cheap 'uns). Last of all its epoxy when the brush gets thrown away after a final use. I suppose one day a Purdy might even get down to the epoxy and throw away stage.

 

....................Dave 

No not really, remove the bulk of the paint with a round bar on newspaper (I use a very large cross head screwdriver), I then use three jars of white spirit, in sequence, shaking as much of the spirit out as possible each time, then wash thoroughly in Washing up liquid, shake dry and then drt out with an elastic band holding the bristles together to prevent spreading. the whols process takes about five minutes and i have Purdy brushes which have lasted nearly twenty years using that process.

 

As a post script, I do not throw the white spirit away, I allow the paint sediment to settle in the jar, and pour the clearer spririt  into a cleaning jar when I wash a brush the next time.

[dave moore]

I’ll say it again. The BrushMate storage system does away with the need for meticulous brush cleaning. I also use a spinner to clean brushes, a cylindrical tool that holds brushes and spins them at speed, the centrifugal force quickly removing paint from the bristles. I can’t recall it’s proper name, I’ll look tomorrow.

[WotEver]

23 minutes ago, dave moore said:

I’ll say it again. The BrushMate storage system does away with the need for meticulous brush cleaning. I also use a spinner to clean brushes, a cylindrical tool that holds brushes and spins them at speed, the centrifugal force quickly removing paint from the bristles. I can’t recall it’s proper name, I’ll look tomorrow.

One of these type of things?

https://www.mypaintbrush.co.uk/uni-pro-brush-roller-cleaner

[dave moore]

That’s it. Thanks!

[Slim]

43 minutes ago, WotEver said:

One of these type of things?

https://www.mypaintbrush.co.uk/uni-pro-brush-roller-cleaner

I don't know about the spinner device but my Paintmate box is ace. I'm sure Dave Moore has the deluxe version that is metal with the solvent in a bottle with a wick. My version is a plastic box with the solvent in an impregnated pad that lasts for a number of months. The clips that the brush handles fit into could be a little more robust but that's minor. I brought my brushes back last week and cleaned them up today (using brush cleaner)  When I took the brushes out of the box they were significantly softer than when I popped them in. With hindsight I wish I had bought the deluxe metal box version from a convenience and capacity point of view.  

[cuthound]

12 hours ago, David Schweizer said:

No not really, remove the bulk of the paint with a round bar on newspaper (I use a very large cross head screwdriver), I then use three jars of white spirit, in sequence, shaking as much of the spirit out as possible each time, then wash thoroughly in Washing up liquid, shake dry and then drt out with an elastic band holding the bristles together to prevent spreading. the whols process takes about five minutes and i have Purdy brushes which have lasted nearly twenty years using that process.

 

As a post script, I do not throw the white spirit away, I allow the paint sediment to settle in the jar, and pour the clearer spririt  into a cleaning jar when I wash a brush the next time.

 

That is exactly the same cleaning method my woodwork teacher taught me at school about 55 years ago.

 

I still.use it.

[David Schweizer]

2 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

That is exactly the same cleaning method my woodwork teacher taught me at school about 55 years ago.

 

I still.use it.

I got the method, more than fifty years ago, from my friend's father who was a coachwork panel beater and coach painter. It was him who also taught me about "laying off", but from the bottom of the panel, which which is opposite to way most boat painters do it, usually laying off from top to bottom

 

 

Edited August 19, 2020 by David Schweizer

[1agos]

18 hours ago, dave moore said:

I’ll say it again. The BrushMate storage system does away with the need for meticulous brush cleaning. I also use a spinner to clean brushes, a cylindrical tool that holds brushes and spins them at speed, the centrifugal force quickly removing paint from the bristles. I can’t recall it’s proper name, I’ll look tomorrow.

The Brushmate is a great bit of kit for keeping paint and varnish brushes from drying out. I have saved a fortune in white spirit since I've been using one.

[Batavia]

12 minutes ago, 1agos said:

The Brushmate is a great bit of kit for keeping paint and varnish brushes from drying out. I have saved a fortune in white spirit since I've been using one.

I have found that a Brushmate works brilliantly.  However, the saving in white spirit is more than offset by the need to buy a large number of Purdy brushes to make the best use of it!  When I was fitting out our boats, I probably 5 or 6 types/colours of paint on the go at any one time, then factor in a couple of different size brushes for each paint and the number of brushes you need is rather horrifying.  Basically, I only cleaned them very occasionally, or when I ran out.  My record for storage in a Brushmate is about 5 years, when I forgot that I had left some brushes inside it.  They bristles were still soft and they cleaned up perfectly.