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.

No, not some new Kickstarter Im afraid.
Just a chance to show off the worst of your brushes and their conditions.
These are all from GW.

Standard brush with serious dried paint above the bristle line. It still works pretty ok though.



This by far my worst. It was a GW large brush. I actually have no idea where the bristle went. It sees little use these days



Large drybrush with bad bristle damage. I mainly use this one for drybrushing large bits of scenery where you can just "go at it".





Large brush. This dosent look too bad but had significant glue damage to it. I tried trmming out the bristle that had glue and ended up with this. Still works for drybrushing and basing models with PVA.



Casualties of War

I wish I had a picture to share. I'm generally kind to my brushes, but my wife is not (to hers - we've long since established a "don't you dare ruin my brushes" rule). As a testament to the power of Master's brush soap, I revived her worst: A 1/2" flat that had been used to decorate a T-shirt. It was placed down on some newspaper when she finished and abandoned for some time before being tossed back in a drawer. When I first saw it, it was completely encased in cured fabric paint. The stuff was so thick, the brush head had bonded to the paper where it had dripped down. I could actually read a (backwards) date on the paper scraps... 4 years prior! A few bristles were lost in the process, but the soap actually loosened up the brush's rubbery prison enough to liberate it, bit by bit. It ain't exactly pristine, now, but you'd never know just how badly it had been abused.

You monster!

If there were a child protective services, but for brushes.....

You sir are a monster. Now I'm gonna go show my brushes these pictures and remind them to be good and stay in the lines...

I don't tend to kill brushes so much as promote/demote them. A general use brush that starts fraying gets trimmed into a fine detail brush, a large one that gets a stuck point gets snipped off at the widest point and takes on new life as a basecoat/basing/drybrusher. Brushes with hardly and bristles left get used as basing material (reeds and such), while the handles become sculpting tools of various sizes.

Old brushes never die, they just fade away...

I ask the Brush Gods forgiveness!

Here a few brushes from my pot;

Left is a modern citadel standard brush used for about 2 weeks, middle (red) is a 15 year old citadel standard brush used for about 10 years, and right is a Rosemary and co series 33 kollinksy sables size 1 used for about 2 years.


The red brush was from a time before I knew about brush soap. Yet it still out points the few weeks old black handle citadel standard brush.
Citadel brushes nowadays are garbage, as proven by the ones I own compared to the ones they used to sell, and another manufacturer for reference. the rosemary and co and the newer citadel were both cared for the same. with the same soap and same kind of treatment. Only the black citadel gave out holding its point in about 10 seconds compared to 2 years and still going strong for Rosemary... which funnily the black one cost me more £ than the red one did many years ago. Lesson learned (for me atleast)

The newest brush out of the 3 was genuinely dogsh*t quality compared to the other 2, sometimes caring is not enough, the manufacturer have to do their part in supplying quality products to begin with.

 Ratius wrote:
I ask the Brush Gods forgiveness!

For penance, go buy a puck of Master’s brush soap. While true forgiveness from the Brush Gods is beyond your reach, it will at least forestal their wrath.

I have a whole pot of retired brushes from various years.... I shall pull the camera out once I knock off work... I don't know how people keep them in good condition for so damn long!

I murdered a brush working on my last terrain project. I was trying to decide if I should keep or not and I don't remember where I ended up with that... I'll check tomorrow and if I still have it I will take a pic.

sooo what painting where you stabbing to death with these brushes?

How good is this brush soap stuff, and why? I keep seeing it mentioned, but it's quite expensive.

Masters isn't all that expensive and one tub will last years. I've had the same one for 3 years now and it's not even 1/3 gone.