Cleaning paint brushes with a wire brush

[Stephen Tashiro]

How long have professional painters been cleaning pant brushes with a wire brush? In the pre-internet years, I looked at many do-it-yourself books and never saw that technique mentioned.

Youtube videos (e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdMI2VMHaO4 ) are revealing the method to the general public. I find that it works.

[Charles Wiggins]

I'd be ashamed to show my face in public if I let the paint get all the way up to the ferrule like he has in his demo.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I'd be ashamed to show my face in public if I let the paint get all the way up to the ferrule like he has in his demo.

Neither my wife, nor my daughters have any compunction against this. i mean, first, you dip the paint brush INTO the paint, get those bristles nice and coated. I ended up throwing away one of my nice brushes when my wife was done with it. Good think that I really really really like my wife.

[Charles Wiggins]

Neither my wife, nor my daughters have any compunction against this. i mean, first, you dip the paint brush INTO the paint, get those bristles nice and coated. I ended up throwing away one of my nice brushes when my wife was done with it. Good think that I really really really like my wife.

Your wife is probably a lost cause, after all, you are her husband, not her dad, but you're failing as a parent if you don't get those girls straightened out.

[Adam Herman]

I have a brush comb that I use, purdy part number 068010. My brushes also do not get paint into the ferrule. My favorites reside in the box in the shop, not with the rest of the painting supplies though!

[Jerome Stanek]

My painter about killed my older brother for using one of her brushes and not cleaning it. He wasn't even supposed to be there and made a lot more work for us.

[Stephen Tashiro]

I'd be ashamed to show my face in public if I let the paint get all the way up to the ferrule like he has in his demo.

Painting only with the tip is a nice theory, but even using little bits of paint, if I am painting something overhead the paint gets all over the brush.

[Charles Wiggins]

Painting only with the tip is a nice theory, but even using little bits of paint, if I am painting something overhead the paint gets all over the brush.

I'll usually get a bit on the outside of the handle and ferrule, mostly because I don't hesitate to wipe minor mistakes off with my fingers and I switch hands a lot to get the best angle or extend my reach. Almost all of that comes off with cleaning. But if you're getting paint up into the ferrule from the bristles, particularly with household latex, either your paint it too thin or you're overloading the brush.

[Rich Engelhardt]

How long have professional painters been cleaning pant brushes with a wire brush? A wire brush is way too hard on the bristles. It will destroy the brush in pretty short order. I dealt with professional painters on a daily basis for over 25 years and not once did any one of them ever take a wire brush to their tools. The guy in the video also claims pros don't take doors off their hinges and lay them flat to paint them.

There's a lot of goo d ideas on Youtube - but - this isn't one of them.

[Wayne Lomman]

It's a last resort technique, not a regular maintenance technique. Don't treat it as a panacea. I first was shown this when I was about 12 and making a mess of brushes when painting the house for Mum after Dad died. The old bloke next door used a wire brush to resurrect them for which I was grateful as there was no money for new ones. Cheers

[Jason Roehl]

I did it all the time. When you use a brush all day, and don't have a place to clean it out on the jobsite, you end up with dried paint on the bristles. A wire brush and hot water makes quick work of it, and more safely than harsh chemicals. I also replaced my brushes regularly and relegated the older ones to duster duty--just a cost of doing business.

[Pat Barry]

Whats the big deal with getting paint up into the ferrule anyway. The bristles are all clamped together there anyway. In fact, why don't the brush makers just epoxy them together into the ferrule? As far as using a wire brush, I've doen that for 40 years, way before internet videos- its just common sense.

[John K Jordan]

...In fact, why don't the brush makers just epoxy them together into the ferrule? ...

I don't know, but I wonder if bristles set into hard epoxy might break off more quickly as they flex against where they would exit the hard epoxy. Maybe try filling a ferrule full of epoxy and see how one holds up with a few years of use and cleaning.

35 years ago I worked on a military project which specified crimped connections. Apparently the wire can break in high vibration applications where it is immobilized by the solder, and individual small strands of wire in a bundle of conductors are even likely to break at the junction since solder wicked between them prevents movement. For connections where solder was specified I understood the wire had to be supported (strain relieved) away from the soldered interface. Unsupported wires were always crimped.

I just realized I'm 67 and a paint brush is one of the few things I've never taken apart to see how it was made! How did I miss that? :)

JKJ

[Rich Engelhardt]

I did it all the time. When you use a brush all day, and don't have a place to clean it out on the jobsite, you end up with dried paint on the bristlesAlways a first for everything I guess ;).
Anyhow, that guy in the video was cleaning his tools out on the customers lawn. If you watch his videos, he's not real swift.
He goes after that brush with a wire brush like he wants to tear out the bristles.

Anyhow, the painters I knew would change out their brushes during the day - usually at lunch time - then wash and clean them when they got home.

To be fair though, most all of them used oil paint, not latex, and the paint didn't cake up like it does with latex.


In fact, why don't the brush makers just epoxy them together into the ferrule?They have been doing that for the last 70 some years.....prior to that, I don't know how it was d (http://www.madehow.com/Volume-5/Paintbrush.html)one.


Anyhow - - why believe me - or some guy with a Youtube video.

Here's what Purdy Brush (http://www.purdy.com/painting-resources/painting-faqs/paint-care-and-cleanup) has to say about it:
"Do not use a wire brush on a paint brush"

[Charles Wiggins]

Whats the big deal with getting paint up into the ferrule anyway. The bristles are all clamped together there anyway. In fact, why don't the brush makers just epoxy them together into the ferrule? As far as using a wire brush, I've doen that for 40 years, way before internet videos- its just common sense.

If the paint would gob up into the ferrule and just stay there it wouldn't really be any big deal. The problem is that it doesn't stay there, particularly with oil-based paints, but water-based are not completely immune. Since the new paint is thinned with the same medium as the original paint that is stuck in the bristles the medium acts as a solvent and your new paint gets contaminated with old paint, usually in slivers.