Cleaning oil paint from brushes

Aside from white spirits and other solvents (messy and time consuming)

is there a better way to clean oil paint from brushes?

I remember some time ago a TV commercial where the brush is spun with drill inside a bucket and the brush is completely clean and dry ver quickly. Is this any good?

Thanks,

Antoni

-- asalcedo

Reply to
asalcedo
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The Dandy brush cleaner (see

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) works very well, but still uses solvents for oil paint. Many readers of this group favour using cheap brushes, and discarding them after use. The ones I bought must have been too cheap, and left bristles in the paint rather too often, so I use the Dandy (obtained some years ago from QVC).

Cheers,

Ian

Reply to
Ian Smeaton

| | Aside from white spirits and other solvents (messy and time consuming), | is there a better way to clean oil paint from brushes?

Swarfega then soap and water. Works with *fresh* paint.

Reply to
Dave Fawthrop

Swarfega is paraffin gel, so you can now pay a fraction the price. These days brushes are so cheap I rarely bother with the oil ones.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

I've got Dando paint thingy* cleaning system: ... one item caters for brushes and a different item caters for rollers . IMHO they are very good

-does what it says!. I bought mine at an Ideal Home show from a demonstrator but I've noticed them on QVC and in the local 'Homebase' shed (where they're not prominently displayed but can be found lurking amongst the paint-brushes and such-like.

The operation is (for brushes and rollers place the paint-filled applicator into the device - which obviously is pre-mounted into a drill - then spin for a minute to have the paint flung off by centrifugal/centripetal force (this action gets rid of most of the pigment - dip the applicator into a solvent (white spirit for oil-based paint ) then spin to clean the applicator. {You may have to repeat this step). The applicator will be clean and dry. Ready for immediate re-use.

There's a few 'tricks' I've developed with experience ...;-

I set up a cleaning station -before- starting to paint. Workmate on which I place the drill-cum-Dando, extension lead for drill, chuck key etc. etc. - Trust me you don't want to be finding all these things while holding a dripping paint brush ... :( A bucket isn't deep enough to contain all the paint which is flung off, I now utilise an old 'pedal bin' - it's tall enough to contain the drill plus holder plus brush without me straining my back. The paint is flung off with force - never spin the Dando until the set-up is entirely within the pedal bin -[I can show you some trousers with interesting banded patterns on the legs.]

One must use paint brushes with solid handles - I've discovered that the hollow plastic handled brushes get splintered by the grasping springs in the Dando brush holder.

For cleaning oil-based paints I've collected some of the plastic milk containers - the two pint size is best IMHO. After cleaning, hack through the container about half way down and invert/jam the top into the bottom. Fill with white-spirit to a sensible level. I find that I can immerse the brush into the inverted top and 'work' it against the sides. The pigments are suspended in the solution but over-time migrate to the button of the container -below the top-half of the container - leaving 'clean' fluid for brushes. With the Dando, I arrange four such modified containers - in an empty ice-cream container - then Spin off raw pigment - dip into first white-spirit 'bottle- spin again with Dando - dip into second w-s 'bottle' - spin again - dip into third w-s bottle - spin again etc. Each w-s 'bottle' is cleaner and cleaner and the brushes are very clean. [it takes longer to read than perform the actions]. The ice-cream carton sits on the Workmate ... ready to play its part in the cleaning operation.

For emulsion paints a water-filled bucket suffices for dipping the brushes and rollers into a cleaning fluid. [I never use oil-based paint for rolling.]

I'm certainly pleased with my purchase - and so is my wife as the kitchen sink doesn't become a casualty for paint brush/roller cleaning. And; I really do clean the brushes when taking tea and/or lunch breaks - it's so quick.

You do become a bit of a fanatic about having clean paint brushes and rollers!

HTH

Reply to
Brian Sharrock

It is one of the (very few) devices I bought for a tenner out of admiration for the skill of the presenter at a show a decade or more ago which does exactly what it promises. On oil paint I've found spinning it, rubbing it in a teaspoon or so of raw washing up liquid, spinning it and rinsing with hot water and spinning again works very well, is cheap and quick. The roller cleaner also works well.

I have noticed the price of these devices varies enormously by the way.

Reply to
Peter Parry

Don't clean them - store them in a Brushmate instead. For a "gadget", this thing works really remarkably well indeed.

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Available from

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Reply to
Lobster

You can use neat washing up liquid instead of the Swarfega. (At least, it works with Fairy -- might be less successful with the cheap dilute makes.)

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Hi,

Sometimes I use a pressure washer at a low angle to the bristles after rinsing the worst out in white spirit.

For storing between jobs a tin with some white spirit and foil wrapped tightly round the top and the handle will stop it drying out for some weeks.

cheers, Pete.

Reply to
Pete C

I do it this way:

wipe/squeeze with some newspaper to get most of the paint out

dunk in a jar of white spirit and squidge it around a bit

wipe/squeeze with some more newspaper and shake off

squidge some washing-up liquid right through the bristles

rinse thoroughly

shake off

If I'm going to be using the brush later with the same paint I don't clean it, just wrap it in cooking foil - it will last for a day or two between uses if you store it somewhere cool.

Reply to
Rob Morley

Wrap them in cling film if you need to complete the job the next day. Other wise it can get very wasteful.

MBQ

Reply to
manatbandq

Especially for Hammerite. Have you seen the price of the thinners? For overnight storage the old clingfilm trick works for ordinary emulsion and gloss.

John Schmitt

Reply to
John Schmitt

It just needs more, exactly as per greasy dishes. As the packaging makes up a significant fraction of the unit price, economy liquids can be a false econonmy, unless you are into Blue Peter. I still remember the helicopter thingy I built out of a Fairy Liquid bottle. The rotor bit is probably still in the horse chestnut tree. :-(

John Schmitt

Reply to
John Schmitt

False economy, IMO, like using cheap paint!

Petrol is cheap and effective for cleaning this off.

Reply to
Chris Bacon

Held up there by the sticky backed plastic and the milk bottle tops?

Reply to
Andy Hall

Available in two sizes, for four and (approx) 20 brushes. The smaller about £10-12, the larger about £40 and often on offer. Sold a few to decorators, who, as a breed, don't spend money on unnecessary kit.

Reply to
Peter Johnson

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