There are two kinds of paint brushes:
one - natural bristle
two - synthetic bristles or nylon
Some time ago the natural bristles brushes
were the best, but today with the technological improvements the synthetic
brushes are very very good to now.
You cannot use natural bristle brushes
using latex paints this will ruin the brush immediately the brush won't be able
to work anymore with oil paints properly.
Toronto painters recommend buying the best
possible brush you can afford believe me you only get what you pay for. A good
brush can make your job a lot easier and quicker. When you go into the store
and look at the different paint brushes you can select the better ones when you
spread the bristles and look at the ends. There should be a lot of bristled
density in the brush, and when you tap the brush on your palm of your hand you
should not lose too many bristles otherwise a brush is not constructed well and
will lose bristles as your painting and ultimately not work properly. A good
latex brush such as a two half-inch sash brush should cost around 12 to $15 and
up.
The most common brush to use is the two
half-inch sash brush this brush double's for a relatively good wall to ceiling
cutting brush and cutting around windows and doors and a good trim painting brush. I am not a
big fan of sponge brushes their slow and inaccurate, they are only use on very
special occasions and quite frankly I can't even remember when I use one last.
The natural bristle brushes are used in oil
paints. Here again the more expensive the brush the more brush you by. I
generally use an ox hair brush which is in the highest end of brushes. the boar
hair brushes are course brushes that aren't very accurate and don't leave a
fine finish but they are about one quarter the price. But if you want to do
fine work with your oil paint select the boar hair brush , this brush is very
accurate for the cutting edge and also lays down the paint very smoothly.
Cleaning your brushes
Both types of brushes have to be cleaned
thoroughly by hand until no more milky paint residue seeps from the brush.
Generally cleaning the brush involves multiple fresh water or solvent
cleanings. Generally working from the top down move the paint out of the brush,
because a lot of paint is stuck at the base of the bristles and this is what
you want to clean out because if this dries at the base of the bristles the
brush will lose its effectiveness over a period of uses. And then after you
believe the brushes clean of paint that means no more milky is coming out of
the bristles, then I use a clean rag and wipe dry the bristles stroking the rag
toward the end of the brush.
Written by Vic Nagy owner of Hollywood
Painting since 1979
This is the first of a series of articles I
will be writing on DIY painting projects.