Basic brush cleaning

I use lacquer thinner, it will remove almost any paint.

jwb wrote:

I'm getting back into building after..... oh, 23 years. I was cleaning my brushes (using enamels), and no matter how much I seemed to swirl my brush around in the thinner, I could not seem to get the brush really clean. My question is kinda simple- have I forgotten how to get a brush really clean after 23 years? What's the secret handshake? I swear they used to not be this hard to get clean. I am impressed with how easy acrylics are to cleanup- maybe I'll switch to them.

If it's dried on paint, soak the brush in lacquer thinner or MEK.  If it's wet paint, check the Silicoil Brush Cleaning Tank, available at art supply stores.  Here's a link to an online art supply:

http://www.dickblick.com/zz069/09/

I keep mineral spirits in mine, and it cleans wet enamel off brushes quickly without damaging the bristles.  At under $6 it's a good investment in keeping expensive brushes healthy.

Good luck.

Thanks to both of you! I'll give those ideas a try.

I've always used enamels and nevered had much troubles. I still have some of the same brushes that I used when I was a kid modeling back in 1966.

• IMPORTANT: I try not to get the paint more than halfway up the bristles, especially not in the ferrules.
• IMPORTANT: I never let the paint dry on the brush.
  
• When I'm done with the color, I wipe off the excess on a paper towel and clean in a small container of paint thinner (oderless mineral spirits). I use two salvaged Testors 1/4oz. paint bottles for the thinner. One for the first cleaning to get most of the paint off. The second for a quick dip and then roll the brush on a paper towel. I do that 2 or 3 times and there's usually no signs of paint.
• At the end of the day, after I clean the brushes as above, I wash them at the sink with some dish soap (Dawn) and warm water. Dry, put the plastic tubes over the bristles and store the brushes away.

Hope that might help spark your memory some and get you back on track. 

LOL

Grab an empty jar and some lacquer thinner.  Fill the empty jar with some lacquer thinner.  On the side, mix up some Dawn and water.  You want to use enough Dawn so the water looks light blue(if you're using blue Dawn)  Add a few drops of this solution to your jar of lacquer thinner.  The thinner should separate into two layers with stuff floating in the middle.  Use the bottom half to clean your brushes and watch the paint particles magically get trapped in the middle.

You know, I HAD forgotten about not getting the paint all the way up the brush.... LOL.

Thanks-

ryanpm wrote:

Grab an empty jar and some lacquer thinner.  Fill the empty jar with some lacquer thinner.  On the side, mix up some Dawn and water.  You want to use enough Dawn so the water looks light blue(if you're using blue Dawn)  Add a few drops of this solution to your jar of lacquer thinner.  The thinner should separate into two layers with stuff floating in the middle.  Use the bottom half to clean your brushes and watch the paint particles magically get trapped in the middle.

That's pretty darn cool- I'll have to try that, if only to see it work. :-)

I clean all my brushes first wiping the excess on a paper towel, then a bath in laquer thinner, and finally I have a jar of water with a little dish soap and a piece of brass mesh on the bottom to massage the bristles....and as mentioned earlier, care of your brush during painting is just as important to prolonging the life of the brush as how it is cleaned afterward....an ounce of prevention, and all that.