Excess paint removed from brush. Brush in jar overnight, immersed in Clean Spirit. Next day brush still had plenty of paint on it! Brush washed in hot soapy water and left to dry. Brush now in the dustbin. Do not buy this stuff, it does not work!
Cleaning paint brushes
Sep 10, 2015
18 Replies
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1) Buy one use brushes from Toolsatan, 24 brushes for £9:98, 42p each. 2) Do job 3) Chuck in bin.
I did work the brush around in the old coffee jar full of Clean Spirit as I always do. This is Clean Spirit, not White Spirit Your method would have cost more than a new brush. I've been using White Spirit for more years than I care to remember with no problems. Some of my brushes are at least 15 years old.
Yes indeed, I'm due for some new ones. Do the bristles fall out on the Toolsatan brushes? This drives me mad!
I got a job lot of 10p, 20p and 30p brushes from Toolsaton which I use and then chuck away.
The quality of the brushes is poor until, using a pair of scissors, they are trimmed up to make all the bristles the same length.
I do have good quality brushes where a good finish is required but for many day to day jobs a cheap brush is more than adequate.
Initially yes, a few bristles do drop out. I've found that if before real use you pretend to paint a brick wall with no paint on the brush it tends to loosen any of the bristles that are destined to fall out.
These are OK, strictly one use;
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These are better;
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Hmmmmmmm Most of my brushes were quite expensive. I can remember paying five shillings for a paint brush and I think I may still have it. When Mrs Pounder Esq gives me my allowance I'll buy myself some quality. She expects and gets perfection from my work. And, I'm getting very pissed off with painting.
Don't forget that you can reuse white spirit. The paint will eventually settle at the bottom of the bottle you store it in and you can then pour off the clear again spirit from the top.
Use a paint spoiled brush for cleaning concrete, it comes clean nicely.
NT
+1 I keep 2 x 1L bottles of WS, one with settled solids, and the other virgin for cleaning hands and things.
+2 After sloshing the paintbrush around in a glass jar of WS, and getting rid of most of the paint (eg an arm's-length swing over my gravel driveway*), I suspend it in another jar of relatively clean WS, with the tip about 1/2" off the bottom. The solids settle to the bottom, and the brush is almost paint-free. After a day or two, the clear portion of WS can be decanted off and reused for cleaning. Very little WS actually gets thrown away. *Aiming for any emerging weeds I see.
Yup.
Often depends on the brush construction and material of bristles and the type of paint used and how long its been on the brush. Some brushes actually absorb the paint in the bristles and its been my experience these are uncleanable. Brian
I have the small one of these:
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as I used to do quite a bit of painting for other people. Works brilliantly (only for oil based paints). Just squeeze excess paint out of the the brush with a blunt filling knife, pop it into the BrushMate, and brush can be used straight off next time. If you don't open it too often, and put the lid back on quickly when you do, the vapour pads can last for a year.
+1 pro decorator I know swears by them
Can recommend these , long bristle gives a great finish
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Wrap paint soaked brushes in clingfilm. Unwrap and carry on painting later. Keeps paint soft for up to a week. Saves all the bother of cleaning every day.
In all of my long years of painting I've never had any problems with White Spirit. I'm gonna make a complaint to the manufactures of Clean Spirit. It is simply not fit for porpoise.
I use a paint piranha, works awesome, found it on paintbrushcleaners.com
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