Varnish stiffened brushes in need of rescue!

[StanHerbert]

I've been a bit stupid and used 2 nearly new Purdy brushes for varnishing a door. Even worse I didn't manage to clean them properly so now they're stiffer than an OAP with viagra.

I have a metal brush comb, but don't want to go at them too ferociously for fear of damaging the bristles.

Any suggestions for how to clean?

The varnish was oil based Sadolin.

 

[opps]

Dulux Trade brush cleaner and renovator will help to a large degree, you will need to let them soak for weeks though.

Unfortuately it will cost about £15 for 2.5L and you can only get it a branches of the Dulux Decorator Centre.

It is the only decent brush cleaner imo

 

[ic1927]

You could try soaking the brushes in Paramose or Nitromors paint stripper, some painters swear by this method of cleaning and softening hard brushes, never tried it myself though.

 

[joe-90]

They are never the same afterwards. I just bin them.

 

[opps]

Joe is right that they will never be as good again but they will be fine for emulsion, if left long enough.

 

[StanHerbert]

Thanks for the suggestions chaps. I saw your first reply opps at the crack of dawn on Sunday and as I don't have a Dulux Decorator Centre nearby and needed to use the brushes yesterday I experimented a little.....

In conclusion, I tried a tin of Tetrosyl Paint Thinners designed for car paint (I assume it's probably cellulose thinners, but isn't marked up as such) and it instantly softened the brushes up, a quick comb and wash with soapy water and they're more or less as good as new.

The only thing that remains to be seen is if the bristles are held into the ferrule with glue ... in which case I suspect they'll moult fairly rapidly!

Still as they were knackered anyway it was worth a try and looks good so far......

Cheers all.

 

[johnheritage]

If you check out toolstation.com (or screwfix may also have it), they will have 500ml cans of paint thinner. It's pretty much pure Xylene, an organic solvent for things like oils and resins.

If you fill an old jam jar with it, wear more of the paint of the brushes as you finish and then dunk them and wrap some cling film over the top, it's usually not very difficult to get them sparkling clean again by squeezing them out and wiping them dry with an old rag or t-shirt.

It works much better than spirits and turpentine.

The cling film is important, so it can't evaporate off.

If you've ever used polyurethane varnishes, I suspect the smell is actually xylene in the varnish that's used to thin it, which then evaporates off and allows it to dry.

 

[JohnD]

I think perhaps you will never make that mistake again.

If you are likely to be too tired/fed up to clean your brushes properly, a very good and economical tip is to keep a tub of ordinary paraffin and put the brushes in that. It really does make paint fall out (it doesn't just dilute or soften it like white spirit or blue cleaner) and does not attack the stock. You can wash them out easily afterwards. The paint residue falls to the bottom of the tub so you can pour off the paraffin for reuse.

It does not evaporate like white spirit does, and the paint will not re-harden.

This method may not work with some modern varnishes which harden differently.

 

[johnheritage]

I like the paraffin idea, I've not tried that - being a youngin' paraffin isn't something I've grown up with. But they do still sell it at the petrol station in 5l cans. My local one is open all night as well, so I can get it at 3am as I finish something, unlike the other cleaners where I'll turn around and think "...sure I had another can of that!". I can JUST ABOUT remember there being a paraffin pump down there.

I know why this will work though, it's something called the polarity of the solvent. Water / acetone / dichrolomethane (paintstripper) are all polar solvents, water is EXTREMELY polar.

Things like xylene, hexane, cyclohexane, benzene, toluene, naptha, paraffin and the rest are all essentially none polar. Quite a few of those have literally 0 polarity.

The polarity affects what will dissolve in it. E.g. water will dissolve buckets worth of salt in it, but the salt will not dissolve in none polars (like cooking oil). Lots of things that are sticky or waxy and organic love none polar things. If you look at the wiki entry for 'solvent', you'll see some colourful tables listing the common ones with their polarity. Note the huge difference between xylene and water, for example.

Washing brushes is something solid weeks worth of washing chemistry glassware over the years has made easier.

If you're not going to wash them, at least tightly cling film them. Any single part paint will rely on it being in contact with the atmosphere to cure. Emulsion, the water leaves. Polyurethane, the organic solvent leaves (and smells nice). Gloss, the paint oxidizes in the air to cure. Tightly cling filming them can keep an emulsion brush / roller okay overnight. A loose food bag won't. Putting them in the fridge will slow down the boil off rate as well.

The two parts, like polyesters / epoxies, you haven't got a hope in hell once it's mixed. And you'll probably want to be using a disposable roller / brush as well. There is absolutely no time for tea breaks with epoxies, or clearing things as you paint. It needs to go down as fast as you can lay it.

My dad used to be an artist (selling quite a lot of 6ft oil paintings of footy players mid strike) and was the head of an art college. His brushes used to be fk'ing filthy 24/7. But I've grown up with quite a lot of expensive artist's brushes around, and wrecked quite a few of them.

I now use a £4 synthetic cutting in brush for absolutely tons of stuff, I've only ever needed to buy one (despite heavy usage), and it's still pristine, with very little effort cleaning it up. Got it from toolstation - the 'professional cutting in angled' brush.

I like the disposable mini rollers as well. I just bought another 10 pack for about £1.50 at toolstation, then immediately went to B&Q to get some stainblock brush on they don't carry. The SAME rollers were £8 in B&Q, exact same things.

If you can't get a decent finish for decorating with a £4 brush and the 10p rollers, it's likely you're doing something else wrong - using too much, not moving quickly enough, not dusting the lines into each other...

I'm now producing waaaay better finishes than I did with all the super expensive brushes / rollers with the dirt cheap stuff. The only difference is around a decades worth of continually repainting the house as people left hand prints all over it.