OT-Solvent?

Re: OT-Solvent?

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Cleaning uncured oil brushes- mineral spirits

Cleaning cured oil brushes to rescue them- methylene chloride best. N-methyl pyrrolidone next best (these are paint strippers)

Xylene might work with a long soak

Re: OT-Solvent?

John in NM

I use lacquer thinner and a brush card, followed by dish soap and warm water to revive brushes stiff with residual paint. I've mostly used it on latex paint because that is what my wife uses. When I use oil paint on machinery or something like that I use disposable brushes (any good brushes I had are long since gone after being used with latex and left in the fridge ).

Back when I had good oil brushes, they never got to the point of needing the lacquer thinner treatment, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

The wash with soap and water after several rinses with either water or mineral spirits is the thing I found removes the residual paint and prevents stiffening. For natural bristle brushes I used to follow the soap and water with some alcohol to remove the water, but I never discovered if that helped or not (don't want the china bristle brushes getting split ends after all )

latex different

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

Oil paint film former is a vegetable oil that cross links when exposed to oxygen. Once cross linked it is insoluble in anything. But a solvent for oil will soften it to where it can be removed from bristles.

Latex paint is typically an acrylic polymer. It will dissolve in a solvent that is moderately polar, like lacquer thinner. Some latex finishes have cross linking chemistry. They could be hard to remove.

Life is too short

Dick Coers

to bring out hot solvents, strippers, brush cards and long soaks to recover something that I screwed up in the first place. A new brush and learning my lesson to spend more time cleaning it solves the issue really quickly. Won't be long and I will just be spending the money to hire someone to do the painting, while I do something more pleasurable! In relation to Barry's post, time lost painting and cleaning brushes is double time the loss compared to cycling!