Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I'm getting really fed up with ruined brushes, so am seeking some advice!
My brushes nearly always end up with the bristles split in two (so there are two points instead of one).
I used to store my brushes end up, but realised this was a bad idea and now store them horizontally. I always wash my brushes in a jar of water as soon as I've finished with a colour, and sometimes during, so that the paint doesn't build up in the bristles. I slosh them around vigorously until I can no longer see any paint, then lay them down.
I can understand old brushes going bad, but there are two brushes that are about 3 weeks old (using them 3 times a week) that are starting to separate.

What should I be doing to prevent this?

What kind of brushes are they? Natural hair or synthetic?

Brushes suffer from not having anything to produce oil for them like a natural hair on a living creature would.
So you need to condition your brushes to keep them in shape. Most commonly people use Masters brand brush soap, but you can also use a little hair conditioner after cleaning the brush and before storing.
The soap is easier though, and gets bits out that you didn't even know had built up.

ScootyPuffJunior wrote:What kind of brushes are they? Natural hair or synthetic?

I think they're mostly natural hair. One of them says 'pure sable'.

Buttery Commissar wrote:Brushes suffer from not having anything to produce oil for them like a natural hair on a living creature would.
So you need to condition your brushes to keep them in shape. Most commonly people use Masters brand brush soap, but you can also use a little hair conditioner after cleaning the brush and before storing.
The soap is easier though, and gets bits out that you didn't even know had built up.

Thanks, I'll try this. I have some nice raspberry conditioner that the brushes should enjoy!

No matter how vigorously you shake it in water you will almost be guaranteed to have paint in the metal part of the brush. I use, as I'm sure most others here do, Master brush soap.

http://www.dickblick.com/products/the-masters-brush-cleaner-and-preserver/#photos

This stuff also works wonders once you do get soap that has dried in the ferrule. http://www.dickblick.com/items/05706-1016#description

Good luck. =D

The forked bristles usually happens because people twist the bristles when they reform the brush tip. A lot of people do this, and I've even seen it advocated in painting tutorials, but it's a bad habit, because it trains the hairs to point in different directions. When you reform the tip you should try to stroke them straight down.

Once they are already split, the easiest way to reshape them is by heating them up (just like with hair straighteners). You can use a regular clothes iron and stroke the brush along the bottom to try and get a point back. I doubt this process is good for the longevity of the brush, but they are usually on their last legs by the time that starts to happen anyway, so I think it's okay to squeeze a bit more life out of them.

The 2 biggest things I changed in my painting habits to preserve my brushes for longer...

1. Don't let paint get up around the ferrule (the metal collar) of any brush you care about. Only wet the bottom most portion of the brush, if you let the brush get wet further up, paint will work its way into the ferrule and destroy the brush. This does mean I stopped using my good brushes for mixing and thinning paint, now I use an old crappy brush to get the paint out of the pots, mix it and thin it, then swap to my good brush for the actual painting part.

2. Use soap regularly. I will admit I don't even use brush soap I've just been using a cheap bar of hand soap (don't use the liquid stuff, it doesn't work nearly as well). Wash the brush off in water then gently run the brush over the bar of soap, just gently work it in with your fingers and then rinse the brush off in water again. You can keep repeating until the brush is good and proper clean.

While painting, I'll rinse the brush in water every couple of minutes just to make sure paint isn't drying in it and then occasionally (maybe every 10 minutes or so? I don't actually time it) wash it out with the soap to get it properly cleaned up. My main brush I've been using for a year and a half and it's only the past couple of months it's started to degrade a bit to the point where I'm thinking of replacing it.

If you've got paint dried in a brush, I imagine a dedicated brush cleaner would work better, but I just make sure I don't let paint dry in it by washing regularly during painting.

But definitely it's most important to not let paint get anywhere near the ferrule, if it does wash it IMMEDIATELY with soap and water and pray that you got it all out.

 Smacks wrote:
The forked bristles usually happens because people twist the bristles when they reform the brush tip. A lot of people do this, and I've even seen it advocated in painting tutorials, but it's a bad habit, because it trains the hairs to point in different directions. When you reform the tip you should try to stroke them straight down.

I haven't heard of that one. I don't swirl my brushes anyway but still a good thing to keep in mind.

Another trick I am trying these days is to leave a little bit of soap on the bristles and shape them back into a pointy end and let them dry with the soap on. It will harden and help maintain the shape until the next use.