Cleaning brushes - my holy grail

I'm sure a lot, or most, of you already know this but it's something that's eluded me for a very long time: how to *properly* clean a brush. In this particular case after using something like polyurethane.

Every time I've read something about cleaning it's gone along the lines of "use turps/thinner and then dish soap". The missing key for me was when the dish soap had done the job. So last night I discovered that when you can get a good lather going with the soap is the point at which the brush is truly clean.

So now when I've finished with a brush, I brush as much off as I can on some newspaper, then swish it around in turps for a while, and regularly wipe all sides of it on the lip of the jar. Then I squirt some dish soap on it and rub the brush on the palm of one hand to work up a lather. It's here that I realised that after rinsing the soap off, that if I kept repeating this soaping process another couple of times that the lather would get more like I would expect...quickly frothy, rather than a dull creamy consistency, even after working it for a good while. After a final rinse I give it a good drying spin between both palms, like trying to light a fire with a stick. Then the brush is combed (if soap suds appear on the comb, it gets another good rinse and spin) and left to dry. et voila...a soft and not even slightly crunchy brush ready to go again.

Old news to some, but a total EUREKA moment for me, so bear with me while I celebrate not having to buy new brushes every couple of jobs and using the old hard ones as garden trowels :U

You got it RSG, still a bit sus on soap residue, might want to look into which soap is best suited ultimately. Now, if you can, look for the best quality brushes you can afford and keep them for life, it'll save you in the end.

RedShirtGuy.. In another life we use to wash our brushes out in much the same way as you describe and then soaked them in neatsfoot oil to store them.

From Wikipedia "Neatsfoot oil is a yellow oil rendered and purified from the shin bones and feet (but not the hooves) of cattle. "Neat" in the oil's name comes from an old name for cattle. Neatsfoot oil is used as a conditioning, softening and preservative agent for leather. In the 18th century, it was also used medicinally as a topical application for dry scaly skin conditions."

RSG, Maybe you do this as well but did not say so.

I use two containers of the thinners for cleaning.

I get as much paint out of my brush, then clean it (probably twice) in the dirty thinners. Then dry the brush as best as possible (flog it against an outside corner of something).

Then I'll use the clean thinners and repeat until no colour is apparent, then move over to using a soap. The soap removes the oils from the thinners and conditions the brush.

The crucial issue with cleaning brushes is to do so thoroughly, and this is where most people fail.

It takes quite a lot to get all the variuos materials out of the brush at all the stages......lots of solvent to get the bulk of the paint out, lots of washing with detergent to get the remaining paint residues and solvent out, and lots of rinsing to get the remaining detergent out.

I think its important to make a difference between "soap" ( a cleaning product make from reacting animal and vegitable fats with caustic) and "detergent" (a chemical serfactant). Detergent will generally wash away cleaner and leave less residue than soap.
Probably THE best detergent for washing brushies is cheap shampoo.

I went thru a phase of oiling brushes, I picked up the tip from a sign writer, any clean light machine oil will work, parifin oil, baby oil, singer oil, air tool oil or auto tranny fluid.
It stops any paint residue from sticking to the bristles and it comes away when the oil is washed out of the brush.

Engine oil works but tends to build up. Do not under any circumstance use linseed, vegitable oil or any oil that may polimerise.

The problem with oil is that it builds up, the longer the brushes are left the further it penetrates into the bristles and the harder it is to get out.

So for people who use the brushes regularly, but don't have the time or the facilities to was out their brushes well, oiling brushes cane be a great thing, but for long term, I've gone off the idea.

OH of course, you only oil, natural hair brushes and only those used for mineral or solvent bassed paint.

cheers

I did some work a while back for a mate painting houses,when using oil paints he didn't wash his brushes at all,he left them full of paint and wrapped them up with cling wrap,he reckoned that the time and costs of cleaning them was not worth it.
Not sure that he was correct???

Kev: Neatsfoot. That's a new one. The things you learn eh? :)

dr4g0nfly: Yep. If I'm using a full strength finish I usually do something like that too with two jars of turps. The clean one eventually becomes the dirty one if it's a big job too. If I'm using heavily diluted finishes for sealing something like MDF on small jobs I can usually get away with a single jar.

soundman: I guess I meant dish detergent. I'll give the shampoo idea a try next time. The oil thing is a new one too.

nrb: I've done exactly that when painting a house interior with acrylic and it's a fantastic time saver. We securely wrapped all the paint filled brushes and rollers in a few layers of Glad wrap and would leave them in the fridge for up to a week with no ill effect and could use them straight away.


I also found this (from within these forums) after my original post which gives a pretty good rundown of cleaning brushes for different products.
http://toolsforworkingwood.com/store...hcleaning.html

And after you are happy it is sufficiently clean...

A good mate showed me this "trick" and I have been so won over that I do it for all my good brushes. While it it still wet (after being rinsed with water irrespective of whether it was being used for water-based or oil-based products), wrap in newspaper or a paper kitchen towel so the ends of the bristles come to a sharpish wedge shape of the appropiate width for the brush size. Then secure the paper with a rubber band to the metal hilt. The absorbent newspaper or kitchen towel will allow the brush to dry over the next day or so, and when you come to use it in the next week/month/year, it will not look like a hippy on a bad hair day! It's just like brand new.

HTH, & cheers.

Not washing brushes is just plain lazy, there is no good technical reason for it.
It also depends on how cheap the brushes are that are being used.

I buy cheap brushes for use with stuff like epoxy, cold gal and tar bassed products, simply because they are so hard and costly to clean, and just throw them away.

But if we are talking about a brush that most self respecting professional painters would be happy to use, other than for a duster, wash it out well and promptly

Its not like you are going to paint with blue paint then not wash your brush and paint with orange.

Then you have the issue of build up and curing in the brush as you piant......some of the acrillic paints I have used the paint starts to go off in the brush as you paint and it is necessary to stop every 15 to 20 minutes to wash the brush out, because its starting to get stiff.

many of the paints designed for commercial use dry very fast, you simply cant afford to put the brush down for more than 5 minutes without it being a problem.

As for neatsfoot oil......in the past...like the 60's and before, neatsfoot oil was used and recommended for all sorts of things........but these days you will have a very hard time locating any......stinking mongrel stuff that it is.

cheers