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.