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The premise is that I bought an order of several W&N Series 7 brushes before summer, a 0, 00 and a 2, never used them and upon getting them out to use today, I've found that the crisp points they have unladen immediately split into two points when the paint goes on. So my question is - is this something many people are finding with W&N Series 7s?
It's not just this order - pretty much all of the Series 7s I buy go this way. I've tried them loaded, overloaded, barely loaded. Wet, damp, dry. Still, I find that as soon as I go to paint, it doesn't matter which size I use - they all generally split into two. The only thing I can think is either the house's arid humidity has caused them to dry out in storage, or that W&N's quality is simply no good.
There's a reason most people recommend them whenever the 'what paint brush?' discussion raises its head again.
I use size 1 W & N or size 1 Rosemary & co 33 series as my workhorse brush for almost all painting. Couple of my brushes are 4+ years old now and still hold a useful point.
It;s either your environment or user error my man.
Well I have to agree - I went with W&N because they're 'the best'. In this particular case, I can rule out user error - they've never been touched as I've been at Uni since I bought them. I'm inclined to think it's the house humidity. I recently had to have the entire neck of my guitar re-lacquered simply because the heating had dried the guitar out too much and cracked it. I guess if it'll do that, then drying out a few bristles is more than likely.
I've tended to find that brushes of all brands often come with one extra long bristle which can distort usage to start off with. Either use it as a basecoat brush for a bit and wait for this to fall out on its own or trust yourself to do some veyr precise surgery and cut it down to size.
Warpig1815 wrote: Well I have to agree - I went with W&N because they're 'the best'. In this particular case, I can rule out user error - they've never been touched as I've been at Uni since I bought them. I'm inclined to think it's the house humidity. I recently had to have the entire neck of my guitar re-lacquered simply because the heating had dried the guitar out too much and cracked it. I guess if it'll do that, then drying out a few bristles is more than likely.
How long have they been sitting for?
Do you 'train' them after a session?
It sounds to me like they have sat for too long and have lost their protective oils.
I made a video that helps in this regard:
Often the glue that holds the bristles together and in the ferrule will dry out. Your symptoms are the same as what I encounter in my really dry climate. My advice is to condition them with some plain old hair conditioner about once a month. This helps keep the natural oils in abundance and prevents them from drying out.
This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2018/12/22 17:08:02
Admittedly, they have been sat for 3 months - with no care. I do put conditioner on my brushes, but I am quite sporadic in doing so. Perhaps I should make a point of doing so (no pun intended ). I've tried Masters, and I have to say I'm not so keen on the results. I tend to use isopropyl to clean paint out of my brushes - all the more reason to put those oils back in I guess (Although the brush in question hadn't yet been subjected to isopropyl).
Your local humidity can have drastic effects on your brushes if you're not on top of their care about once a week.
My climate is super dry and if I don't keep up on my brushes and let them sit, they're trash.
Just keep an eye on them and don't clean them with isopropyl anymore. That flat out dissolves the glue and is likely the reason they split almost immediately on you.
Best to use a regular hand soap if you're not keen on Master's.
About a year ago there was a massive wave of complaints about quality dropping drastically - I never saw it because I didn't buy any in that time, but you may be caught in that.
I recently got a few Raphael 8404's and the 0 and 00 behave exactly like the OP describes: they can't hold a tip even if their life depended on it. The size 1 however is immaculate and I cannot get it to split even if I try.
Now the Raphaels are obviously not W&N but incidentally I also heard that there are real problems with getting high quality kolinsky hair. So much so that for example Broken Toad has stopped producing brushes altogether.
Now I have just received a few W&N series 7 miniature that I have yet to try, but if they turn out to be trash I suppose it might have something to do with the global kolinsky hair issues affecting quality.
E: Quick tested the W&N 7 miniature and they held their point admirably. YMMV.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/12/23 09:34:55
I wonder if it's anything to do with the... frosty relations between the UK and Russia Being realistic though, I think it may just be a case of mine having been sat in the warmth for 3 months, with no care at all. The test would be for me to buy one brand new, and use it immediately to compare. Anyway, thanks for all the thoughts and advice people
You can clean the brush in Masters -- cool water only-- and leave the soap on the bristles, rather than rinse it off, for storage purposes. Once the bristles are dry, they should stay pointed.
Alcohol of any sort will strip all the oils from the bristles; this destroys your brush. You can, interestingly enough, use shampoo and conditioner meant for dogs on the bristles. It works better than conditioner for human hair.
I'd guess that you have a bent bristle in the brush and that is causing the forking. You may check for that. Remove it or straighten it.
Also, and easy way to point a brush is to wet it, and it takes a few seconds for a natural bristle brush to 'wet' properly, then tap, but not too hard, the ferrule, the lower portion ( that which connects to the handle) against the edge of a cup; it's motion like you were using a drumstick. The brush should 'point' right up.
I just love WN size 1, longhair. Best brush I've ever used. Tried size 0...been a long time, but I can't say I liked it - the bristles behaved oddly, maybe even split.
Be careful buying them off ebay and amazon, I've heard a lot of those are cheap chinese knockoffs instead of actual W&N. I've noticed the $10 ones I got off I got off amazon act a lot like the OP's, quickly splitting and being generally not very good. Try getting them through an actual art supply store, I got some Raphael's through Dick Blick and while they're almost twice the price of the ones from Amazon, they perform like they're supposed to
CragHack wrote: Citadel Artificer brushes are actually not bad. Well, they are at several times better than their regular line brushes.
I prefer them to W&N because the QC is better although they cost more.
Raphael aren't available to me locally, so I switched to the Artificer and have yet to be disappointed.
CragHack wrote: Citadel Artificer brushes are actually not bad. Well, they are at several times better than their regular line brushes.
And so they should be for the price. I can get W & N for about 50% or Rosemary and co. for about 25% (!!!) of what a GW Artificer brush costs and it's not better than either of those,
CragHack wrote: Citadel Artificer brushes are actually not bad. Well, they are at several times better than their regular line brushes.
And so they should be for the price. I can get W & N for about 50% or Rosemary and co. for about 25% (!!!) of what a GW Artificer brush costs and it's not better than either of those,
Is that an Internet discount price?
And as far as Rosemary brushes being as good as a W&N? No. Just. No. Not even close.
They last about half as long, if that, before the hairs are useless for anything but a dry brush.
I always buy local. It's much more expensive, but I can inspect every brush before I buy it. From my local art store, I can even test it with some plain water. If it costs me 50% more and I never have to worry about it being subpar quality then I lose nothing. I only buy brushes about twice a year and I paint models for a living. So as far as I'm concerned, brand is really irrelevant if you can inspect the quality of your brushes in person before you buy.
Then it's very rare you waste any money on buying a dud.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2018/12/27 02:02:52
Warpig1815 wrote: I wonder if it's anything to do with the... frosty relations between the UK and Russia Being realistic though, I think it may just be a case of mine having been sat in the warmth for 3 months, with no care at all. The test would be for me to buy one brand new, and use it immediately to compare. Anyway, thanks for all the thoughts and advice people
AFAIK Europe buys fur from China, and, really, everyone but Russia buys fur from China. We produce brushes locally and they're dirt cheap and extremely capable (more than competent for any tabletop standard I think), like Roubloff series, not sure how easy it would be to purchase them from US or Europe tho.
I've tended to find that brushes of all brands often come with one extra long bristle which can distort usage to start off with.
Is it what they call guide hair or something? I think Miniac mentioned it in his video about brushes https://youtu.be/DbCBdEjrFj8 and found it can make brush behave funny.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2018/12/27 18:55:05
). I've tried Masters, and I have to say I'm not so keen on the results. I tend to use isopropyl to clean paint out of my brushes - all the more reason to put those oils back in I guess (Although the brush in question hadn't yet been subjected to isopropyl).
7000+
3500
2000 
Being realistic though, I think it may just be a case of mine having been sat in the warmth for 3 months, with no care at all. The test would be for me to buy one brand new, and use it immediately to compare. Anyway, thanks for all the thoughts and advice people 
