Foam Brushes

[Kitep]

What's the deal with foam brushes? Is there something they work better for than bristle brushes do, eg painting a door and you don't want to leave brush strokes?

[DerbyDad03]

[greg6755]

Foam brushes are great for applying the second and third coats of polyurethane.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

I like the for quick jobs where you'd spend more time cleaning up than actual painting. No, they will never be as good as a quality bristle brush, but sometimes that is all you need.

[mm]

For really really quick jobs, sometimes I just use a newspaper rolled into a cone.

[Kitep]

Thanks. I always thought they were a step below bristle brushes, but thought maybe I was missing something.

[jmagerl]

I like them to apply stain. but only the ones with wood handles. The plastic handled ones turn into mush when they get liquid on them.

[scott21230]

Use them for small jobs where you are using oil based paint. Use once and throw away. Cheaper than cleaning with paint thinner that's now about $6/gallon. Perfectly good for big jobs for the primer coat.

[Norminn]

When I'm working with alkyd and brush (real, good bristle brush) or spray, I keep a cheapo foam brush handy to catch runs and drips. Especially with sprayer, a brush already wrung out with mineral spirits will catch drips before the set and it leaves a smoothe coat of paint. I spray painted my old klunker range hood with enamel and the foam brush was very handy. Looks like new, unfortunately :o)

[Kitep]

I've never stained anything, but I'll keep this in mind for when I do.