Technique for cleaning brushes etc.

[marcusg]

I'm on the tail end of finishing painting my Daysailer clone, and it still drives me mad to clean my brushes.

I don't know if other people are just super liberal with using a ton of mineral spirits...but I usually have a 8-16 oz container of mineral spirits (sometimes re-used) and I dip the brush in there, spray it with water, wire brush it out, spray it, rub it with a clean rag....ad nauseum, and it still is sticky/stiff once it dries. Can someone give me their magical brush cleaning recipe? I'm down to one nice tipping brush and I'm afraid to use it

[tomodda]

You, my wife, and the eco-police are going to hate me... My solution to same problem is to buy cheap brushes, mostly foam, and toss 'em. Ditto cheap foam rollers. I've gone thru the exact same frustrations as you have. Same precautions, care, etc. I gave up long ago, although a bricked $25 brush made out of virgin North American bisons' ass-hairs or whatever just MAY have pushed me over the edge...

I look forward to someone writing up a better solution.

Tom

[GreenLake]

If you're just between coats, you may try simply wrapping your brush in aluminum foil. Keeps air out and solvents in.

Water soluble paints I usually manage to clean off enough to be able to reuse brushes. With mineral spirits, I'd love to see an eco-balance between the extra solvent use for cleaning and discarding after single use.

[marcusg]

With mineral spirits, I'd love to see an eco-balance between the extra solvent use for cleaning and discarding after single use.

I'm guessing your talking about not necessarily buying another brush when you can clean the old one?

Thing is, I live on a farm where you can see what happens when you dump mineral spirits (unless you get it to stay exactly on the dirt road.) It creates a kill spot for a over a year, at least.

I think what worked best for me was having a really handy roller/paintbrush tray that had a very narrow, deep paintbrush slot, so I could refill it with clean mineral spirits and easily soak the brush for a long time, instead of wasting a lot in a round container. Or using a bit of super expensive acetone to revive a brush with dried paint.

[GreenLake]

I've stayed away from oil-based paints as much as I can.

My first strategy is to avoid the need to clean the brush at all. I may wash it, if I've really managed to only use the tip. But if it's really well soaked in paint, I use the aluminum foil trick. It works quite well for shorter periods. Between coats, for example.

I hear you on the round container. There's a local outfit that sells things in "flat" tins. Basically rectangles. The opening is perhaps too small for a brush, but that's what can openers are for. I can easily see this cutting the dead volume in half.