Finally got called out for my terrible paintbrush cleaning habits

My neighbor Dave saw me tossing my brushes in a bucket of water after painting my garage door last Saturday. He told me I was wrecking the bristles by letting them sit on the bottom like that. Now I hang them with a wire through the hole in the handle so they don't touch anything, and they last way longer. Anyone else been doing cleanup wrong for years without realizing it?

3 comments

3 Comments

troychen5d agoTop Commenter

Dave probably means well but it sounds like overkill for a garage door paint job. I've been leaving my brushes in a coffee can with mineral spirits for twenty years and they still work fine for what I need them to do. Unless you're painting fine furniture or something that needs perfect edges every time, a little bristle damage from sitting in water isn't going to ruin your day. Let's be real, most of us are just slapping paint on fences and trim, not museum pieces.

thomas_price5d ago

Three years of smashing bristles against the bottom of a coffee can before I figured it out. My dad always did it that way so I just never thought twice. Now I kick myself every time I clean a brush.

josephbailey5d ago

I read this whole thing online from an artist who restores old paintings for museums. She said if you let a brush sit in water with the bristles touching the bottom, the water weight bends them permanently in like 20 minutes. I tried hanging mine with a wire through the handle hole like Dave suggested and it made a huge difference. My cheap 3 dollar brushes from the hardware store started lasting me 6 months instead of 2 months. What really got me was she also said to never use hot water because it loosens the glue that holds the bristles in the metal part. I used to run mine under the tap on hot like a fool. Now I do room temp water with a little dish soap and they feel way better.