Sealing the lids on paint tins

[Leon]

The 5 gallons get mixed if you pick a non stock color, but we get them shook regardless. You pour out of them just as you would a 1 gallon container, you just have to be more careful and have a paint brush handy to clean up the drips down the sides. The biggest problem with the 5 gallon buckets is getting the lid off. A 5 in 1 comes in handy for that. also consider switching from a roller tray to a roller bucket. With the waste basket style paint buckets for rollers you can easily dump a gallon of paint into them and not waste time refilling all day long. We typically refill our roller paint buckets a couple times a day maybe three times on a long day. Plus they are much easier to carry around.

[Leon]

Jeez learn to clean the brush. I would much much rather clean an oil based paint or stain than water based. If you use mineral spirits, the kind that comes in a metal container vs the plastic contain, you can clean varnish out of a brush in a matter of seconds.

Keep in mind that is a good practice to clean the brush several times a day even with water based, don't use paint thinner to clean the brush, it dries much more slowly than mineral spirits and if you are painting above your head you will get thinned paint running down the handle.

[HeyBub]

Try this technique:

1. Swish brush in 100% mineral spirits ten times. Remove excess (I use a brush spinner).
2. Swish brush in 50-50 mix of mineral spirits and alcohol ten times. Remove excess.
3. Swish brush in 100% alcohol ten times. Remove excess.

Done.

For latex or water-based paints, add fabric softener to the water in which you swish the brush.

[Larry Jaques]

*Ach du meine gute!

That could be -catastrophic- to drones in a paint store!

*When translated into English, and spoken with a NYC accent, it reads "Oh my gawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwd!"

-- Fear not those who argue but those who dodge. -- Marie Ebner von Eschenbach

[Rob]

Well yes they can now - my printer has 4 blacks, three are used at anyone time, which enable you to reproduce a very good grey scale.(Epson

7900 11 inks) unlike the others that mix colours to imitate black. I think that the blacks would show better detail than the Ciba, which I found too contrasty. r

[stephen.hull]

He must be made of money unless he uses cheap brushes and by using cheap throw away brushes how does he produce a decent finish. This painter can't value his work very much.

Stephen.

[Rich]

I buy semi expensive brushes. Can't imagine throwing them away after every job. It does not take long to clean a brush specially if you use a paint cleaning comb.

[Gib Bogle]

Don't forget to exhale ten times.

[Gib Bogle]

The only disadvantage (as I pointed out upthread) is that this creates a bit of a mess when it has to be removed.

[-MIKE-]

Less of a mess than the skin? :-)

[clare]

Sure you can. Put your computer desk in the darkroom.

[clare]

ALL of the 5 gallon paint pails I've ever bought/used had pour spout like a 5 gallon pail of oil - so decanting is VERY simple, and relatively clean. Just a swipe with the paint brush as you stop pouting, and a quick wipe with a damp (thinners or spirits for oil paint) rag before replacing the cap.

[clare]

What's half an hour of time worth? For a DIY job you can mabee forget about it - but commercially that buys a pretty decent brush.

For day to day, the cling wrap in the refrigerator works well. And the same painter, when doing apartments etc - all the same colour - DOES stretch a brush - uncleaned - that way.

He buys his brushes in bulk from a brush distributor - and his roller sleeves.

[Lew Hodgett]

RE: Subject

That's why propane torches and dead weight hammers exist.

Haven't had a can of paint skin over in years.

Lew

[Man at B&Q]

And spin around three times whilst scratching your ear.

[Jack Stein]

For cleaning brushes, a spinner is mandatory. Something like this:

method is to use a jar/can just big enough for the brush. Put in a small amount of solvent and clean out the brush, then spin the brush in a cardboard box. Dump the small amount of dirty solvent in a different jar or can. Repeat several times.

Save the old dirty thinner, and next time, all the heavy pigments settle to the bottom and the old thinner is now clean.. Use the old thinner to clean next time, only using a bit of new thinner for the last couple of cleans. This is really easy, uses almost no thinner and really keeps your brushes nice.

You need 3 cans/jars to do this, one for storing old thinner, one to clean the brush, and an intermediate one to store the newly dirty thinner. When done, pour the dirty thinner into the old thinner storage can. You can use lacquer thinner but lacquer suspends the pigments forever, while turps or mineral spirits lets the pigments drop to the bottom, leaving clean thinner.

Don't use your good oil brushes for water based paints (hide them from your wife). Clean the cheaper plastic water brushes with just water and the spinner, or throw them away after your wife paints (and never ever cleans a brush)...

[stephen.hull]

That works.

I also save dirty thinners and allow the pigments to settle.

By Lacquer thinners do you mean Cellulose thinner? However using Cellulose/Lacquer type thinners will destroy the natural spring in the brush resulting in a useless floppy brush.

You have described the above method the wrong way round though, Turps will coagulate the paint whereas Cellulose or as you call it lacquer thinner will draw the paint completely out of the bristle stock, as does mineral Naphtha but Naphtha will not destroy the spring in a natural bristle brush.

Stephen.

[Steve Turner]

I heard THAT. I've had more than one $20 Purdy brush ruined by the wife...

[Larry W]

Dead blow hammers?

[Lew Hodgett]

Plastic non marking hammer with a shot filled head.

Available in bright colors at a low price.

Lew