Soap & water cleanup with oil based paint.

[Red]

This is a new one for me. I've prepped my deck & I'm using Wolman Finish & Preservative to reseal it. The can says it's oil based. The warning says it contains mineral spirits. The cleanup instructions says wet brushes may be cleaned with soap & water or mineral spirits. Tacky or dry spills must be cleaned with mineral spirits. The product is clear & not milky. I dipped a just used brush in plain water & everything gummed up. I added a squirt of liquid soap to the pail, swished it a few times, the gummed up particles disolved and the brush was almost clean! Easiest cleanup I've ever seen. All my life I've been told water & oil are incompatable. Is this something new? If so, I darn sure like it.

Red

[Aardvark]

One word: emulsification.

[dpb]

The "soap" was a detergent and as another poster said "emulsification" is a good word to know... :)

There are new(er) formulations that are more amenable to water/detergent cleaning as you've discovered, yes. Many still don't work as well although the detergent will help on virtually any oil-based finish, it won't work nearly as well unless it (the finish) has been formulated to do so.

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