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As the title says I have a split fine detail brush and don't want to buy another. Will putting a dot of glue on help?

No. That will aggravate the problem. Best thing is to trim away the split. You probably have paint down in the ferrule, and that's nearly impossible to get out. If you want to try getting the paint out of the ferrule, soak the brush in simple green, mineral spirits, anything that will help lift the paint. Be careful if you use mineral spirits or turpentine, anything like that will probably life the paint from the handle as well. once you get he paint out of the ferrule, clean the brush well with warm soapy water and then try using some sort of conditioner on the bristles. Actual hair conditioner for sable, fabric softener for synthetics. Once you have give the conditioner a chance to work, rinse the brush and try to reshape the bristles.

Perosnally, I'd rather save time and buy a new brush.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, as they say. Split or bushy bristles can be improved, but you're unlikely to ever get the brush like new, again. Cutting away the split bristles will at least render the brush useable, if not in exactly the same way. When (not "if," if you ever want good service from your brush again) you replace it, pick up a good brush cleaner/conditioner, as well - I recommend Master's Brush soap (a quick search should net plenty of reviews, all of them positive) - and develop a good cleaning regimen.

One more tip for synthetics, more generally - hot (not boiling, but still rather hot) water can soften the plastic of the bristles, slightly. With a bit of care, you can reshape a hooked tip and "set" it while still pliable by dunking in cold water. Again, it won't be like new, but it can help eke a bit more use out of a brush otherwise destined for the glue-spreading/drybrush graveyard.

Suck it up and buy another, relegate that one for stippling or drybrushing.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Suck it up and buy another, relegate that one for stippling or drybrushing.

Windsor and Newton brush cleaner and restorer is also a worthy product for cleaning dried paint off of brushes. It is faster to apply than Masters soap, sine it's a liquid.

Cutting away a stray bristle usually messes up a good brush. I usually live with it, and just roll the brush back to shape before each use -- one you have wet a brush and put a small amount of paint on it, roll it against your palette to take excess off. This will retip your point, and the bristles will stick together.

I would not try hot water. Although hot water will break down acrylics in the ferrule better, it may also melt the glue in the ferrule, and totally mess up your brush. Much better to use a solvent or brush soap.

Ultimately, you'll need a new brush, especially if it is a detail brush as you say. In the future, don't put more than 1 to 1.5mm of paint onto a detail brush (you should never need more), and always fully clean it. A good detail brush can retain peak usefulness for a year or more, and be useful for other tasks for a long time after that.

Talys wrote:
I would not try hot water. Although hot water will break down acrylics in the ferrule better, it may also melt the glue in the ferrule, and totally mess up your brush.

You misunderstand - hot water isn't for cleaning, it's for reshaping (or at least attempting to) synthetic bristles. Same idea as bending plastic/resin kits that have warped. You're quite right about heat damaging certain adhesives, but only the tip is warmed during a reshaping attempt.

What kind of brush is this? If it's a W&N, I understand your desire to save it. The sad fact is in most cases, once split, a brush is going to stay that way. Probably time for a new brush and increased attention to preventative maintenance.

I've managed to rescue previously split brushes with some Masters cleaner as mentioned by oadie, so its worth a try

I once had a few split brushes that I was going to throw out, my Mum saw them and decided to clean them, I'm pretty sure she just used turps and amazingly they were mostly recovered.

These days for the brushes I care about (my Kolinsky brushes) I'm very careful to not let paint get in the ferrule. I rinse them regularly while painting even if I'm not finished with a colour and every, ummm, I dunno, maybe 10 minutes (I don't time it) while painting I'll wash the brush off with some hand soap.

I have a bunch of crappy brushes I use for getting the paint out of pots, mixing and thinning, as those are the actions most likely to get paint in to the ferrule and cause them to split.

Yeah, using a crappy brush to take large amounts of paint out of pots and mix with makes a huge difference. Not overloading brushes makes a big difference too, as well as using cheap brushes to basecoat.

Turpentine is fantastic but the fumes are awful. There are some odor free turpenoids as alternatives, but I think Windsor & Newton Brush Cleaner and Restorer is just fantastic.