Zinsser brush cleaner

[opps]

Picked up a bottle from my local Leyland SDM store. It was about £7 for 500ml.

I had a 50mm Purdy Sprig Elite which had been sitting in my Brushmate for months. On more than one occasion I had forgotten to put a new bottle in. The brush had some (very) slightly dry paint on it.

Dropped it in to the Zinsser brushcleaner. Left it to soak for about 3 hours (they recommend a max of 4 hours).

Took it out to wash it, was pretty underwhelmed with the results. Put it back into the solution..., blah,blah, blah. After 2 days of repeating the process I was pretty much satisfied with the outcome. I haven't used the brush yet but I don't think that there is going to be an issue with dried residue near the ferrule.

I cleaned two bushes and used half of the bottle. It took up to 5 attempts to clean each of the brushes. That's £3 in materials and probably £20 in labour to clean two brushes that cost £12 each. Admittedly, I should have rinsed the brushes in white spirit first but I didn't have enough on site at the time.

I was lucky enough to buy about 25 litres of the Dulux Trade Brush Cleaner and Renovator before they discontinued it years ago. Unfortunately, it is so old that it is rusting in the jerry cans and I only have about 2 litres left.

I have tried numerous cleaners in the meantime and TBH none of them is anywhere as good as the old Dulux stuff. I will try the Zinsser again but remembering to top up the bottle in my brushmate is probably the cheaper option.

 

[SammyInnit]

I was going to suggest Isopropyl alcohol which is dirt cheap but that Zinsser stuff is made up of Benzyl concentrate which can be had for about £20/2500ml. You may not fancy yourself as a chemist but I'd buy the base alcohol and try that too.

 

[opps]

thanks SammyInnit

I have isopropol at home. I have used it to "pre" clean brushes in the past. They still needed cleaning with (my ever diminishing supply of) Dulux Trade Brush Cleaner and Renovator though.

I might try some Benzyl concentrate though. £20 for 2.5L aint to be sniffed at (if it works)

 

[^woody^]

Wouldn't paint stripper do the job, and do it quicker?

I remember way back in my teens there was always some solvent in the garage that got used for many cleaning, degreasing and paint thinning and stripping and other stuff - trichoethylene (?) which was damn useful but apparently very harmful.

 

[JohnD]

is it water paint or oil based?

 

[opps]

is it water paint or oil based?

They claim it will work with oil, WB and BIN (shellac).

Frankly the cheapest option for brushes that you have used in BIN is plain old household ammonia. It completely breaks down the BIN.

I haven't tried it with brushes that have gone hard in emulsion, these days I find that very hot water works, which is worrying.

Of the two brushes that I cleaned, both had been use with OB, one was pliable but had crud on it (I think an employee had dipped it in WB primer). The second brush had been used to gloss one door with green OB. It wasn't hard at the tips but the paint on hairs near the ferrule had dried on the outer faces.

I have no idea if it would work on a rock hard brush. Frankly if a brush is that hard, I chuck it.