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Posted by TakenEvent on October 11, 2006, 1:20 pm
> I do a lot of painting with alkyd (oil-based) paints, and most of my
> brushes are "heeled up" (paint has dried in the area at the base of
> the bristles.)
>
> Any suggestions for how to effectively clean my new brushes so
> that this doesn't happen again? Soaking them in mineral spirits
> and spinning them dry doesn't seem to get the paint out of the
> heel.
>
The fundamental techniques for cleaning brushes:
You'll need the correct solvent. Dip the brush into the solvent, saturating
it as much as possible.
Use a brush comb to remove the majority of the wet paint when dealing with
latex paint. If you can combine the brush comb and running water, this
procedure works quickly. Holding the brush underwater while combing is very
effective. Also effective is plunging the brush repeatedly into a bucket of
water, though you'll need to straighten the bristles frequently when using
the plunge method.
A brush comb can be used when cleaning oil brushes if the thinner is in good
supply. Brush combs perform best when used with lots of the appropriate
solvent.
Rub the bristles back and forth across the grain using your thumb, palm, or
a rag to clean the dried paint. Use common sense to keep from skewing the
bristles too much by rubbing them too far in any one direction - an inch or
two suffices. You may use a wire brush for this twice in your lifetime - no
more. God keeps track. Hell awaits.
Get the last remnants of paint out of the brush by saturating it with the
appropriate solvent and folding the bristles back toward the handle, keeping
the brush tilted so the bristles are up and paint runs down the handle.
You'll see the paint getting squeezed out. Repeat this procedure until the
solvent running out is the same color as the solvent going in and there are
no discernable streams of paint coming out, then switch to cleaner solvent
and repeat. It's possible to clean a brush using very little thinner in
this way.
Kick out your brush by hitting the seam of the ferrule against the toe of
your boot, comb the bristles, and put the brush back in the sleeve to dry.
I've decided that spinning brushes is bad for the bristles' memory (as in
their ability to return to their original shape) and leads to premature
strays. Other than the exercise and aesthetic considerations, there are no
good reasons to spin brushes versus kicking them out. Some say it's more
thorough, but if it is, it's unnecessarily so.
Those are the basics. The finer points are trade secrets.
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