Paint brushes

[les chicken]

Spend hours making something, stand back proud, now to apply the finish.


One hour to paint , stain etc--- two hours picking out hairs from the brush paint or stain all over the hands wishing you left it to the new owner. We have all been there and done it and ruined the tee shirt.

Any advice on decent brushes that are not ready to lose their bristles at the slightest hint of use.

Les

 

[Lord Nibbo]

Spend hours making something, stand back proud, now to apply the finish.


One hour to paint , stain etc--- two hours picking out hairs from the brush paint or stain all over the hands wishing you left it to the new owner. We have all been there and done it and ruined the tee shirt.

Any advice on decent brushes that are not ready to lose their bristles at the slightest hint of use.

Les

I'm afraid you get what you pay for, I've got an old 2" brush that dosen't lose any hair, but that only comes out for speacial occasions.
Like Norm I use the sponge brushes, they are so cheap I don't even bother to wash them, just chuck them away after use.

 

[johnelliott]

We use brushes a lot, acrylics, varnish and danish oil. We like the B&Q synthetic brushes, hardly ever lose a bristle. Can't remember the actual product description, if I remember I look when I'm in the workshop tomorow
John

 

[Gill]

Sponge brushes don't lose their bristles ! Seriously, since I started using sponge brushes I've been very happy with the results.

Gill

 

[Neomorph]

Like the other John said, the B&Q synthetic brushes are not bad at all. I wanted to paint some doors in my flat and my old brushes kept losing bristles so went to B&Q and bought some cheap brushes but they too kept losing the bristles.

I then went back to B&Q and bought one of the synthetic finishing brushes and found they were the best ones I'd purchased... ever. I didn't have a single lost bristle and the finished doors didn't have any brush strokes.

These foam brushes intrigue me though... where can you get them from?

 

[StevieB]

Another vote for the B&Q synthetics here, hae been using them for a couple of years now and wouldnt go back to bristle brushes. The handles are also 'rubbery' to the touch and quite comfortable for prolonged periods of time, although if you stand them long term in white spirit this can affect the handle by making the rubber almost melt and go sticky/runny. Best to clean them within a couple of days I have found.

Steve.

 

[Argee]

Another vote for synthetics - I favour Focus DIY's version, the ones with the white tips to the bristles. Agree that the handle coating will come off if left too long (revealing the polythene handles beneath), otherwise not a single bristle escaped yet.

To be fair, I believe that a good-quality real-bristle brush (Harris or similar) will give a superior finish with varnishes or liquid high gloss, so I keep those for the special jobs too. Get the good brushes from a specialist supplier - i.e., somewhere like Brewers, who sell to the trade in the main.

Ray.

 

[Steve Maskery]

These foam brushes intrigue me though... where can you get them from?

Drop a PM to Terry Smart.

Cheers
Steve

 

[Paul Chapman]

Not had much experience with synthetics, but if you want natural bristle brushes, I've always favoured Hamilton's Perfection - I particularly like the round-section ones for some jobs. They are quite expensive, but if you look after them they will last for years.

Paul

 

[Paul Chapman]

A couple more thoughts about paint brushes - and why I've always favoured Hamiltons (www.hamilton-acorn.co.uk).

With paint brushes, as well as needing to have the bristles well secured, they need to be long enough, of the right quality and there needs to be enough of them. This last point is particularly important. As well as being the bit of the brush that applies the finish to the surface, the bristles also hold the paint, varnish or whatever, until you get it onto the surface. My experience is that cheap brushes are cheap partly because they don't have enough bristles. As a result they don't do a very good job of holding the paint.

This explains why beginners at painting usually end up with paint up their arm and everywhere else If there aren't enough bristles the paint will just run out of the brush (even if it's "non-drip").

Even if you want a brush for very fine work (eg for spotting photographs) it's far better to go for one with plenty of bristles - just so long as the end of the brush is correctly shaped.

Hope this helps

Paul

 

[edmund]

The rubbery handled brushes (Anza) from B&Q are good (I think these are the ones people are referring to?). Interestingly, Anza acquired Hamilton Acorn in 2001.
E

 

[JFC]

As said above you get what you pay for . You cant go far wrong with a Purdy brush .

 

[Neomorph]

The rubbery handled brushes (Anza) from B&Q are good (I think these are the ones people are referring to?). Interestingly, Anza acquired Hamilton Acorn in 2001.
E

I've got a few Anza brushes but these aren't the synthetics we are talking about. The synthetics have a grey rubbery handle which is great as they never slip in your hand and have bristles that fade to white tips (as someone else mention of the Focus DIY brushes... these B&Q ones fade too).

I don't know if any other's here have experienced it too but I've found that cleaning these synthetics is easier too. I've used them for both water and oil based paints and cleaning the brushes so that they are TOTALLY clean is a lot faster. I even painted a dark green shed with one and then painted some undercoat in the house.

It was only in the middle of the undercoating that I realised I had got the wrong brush (I was talking to a friend while working and didn't concentrate on what I was doing ). To my surprise I didn't have any green leak into the undercoating at all (although I did have to ask my friend as I'm partially colour blind lol). With other brushes (even those Anza ones) I've found that you can spend ages trying to clean them and not get 100% of the old paint out.

I last had this happen after using a brush to do the edges around my bedroom ceiling. Friend came in and asked why I was painting my ceiling edges in a pale blue (I was using white). I then lost my temper (always a bad thing during painting) as I was within twelve inches of finishing the edging... I threw the brush out the back door and ended up having to repaint the back fence as a blue-white blob in the middle of a black fence tends to look a bit weird!

 

[DomValente]

B&Q synthetics are my choice too. These can be purchased from Costco at about half the price for the same product.

 

[les chicken]

Thanks to everyone. Looks like another trip to B&Q.

Les