"Leon" wrote in message
...
I just finished helping a friend paint the interior of probably our 20th
house in the last 10 years. Typically he rolls on the latex to paint the
walls and I cut in. Also I do most of the oil based enamel trim painting.
Through the years he has always used thinner to thin the paint and to clean
the brushes. It has always been a pet peeve of mine to come back after
lunch and begin the trim work again. I always clean the brush in thinner
before leaving and when I resume painting the residual thinner in the brush
blends with the paint in the brush and runs down the handle for the next
hour. I HATE THAT! And It never starts immediately, it begins 15 minutes
after thinking I am starting with a "basically dry" brush. I often will
prime the brush with a very small bit of thinner but what resides after
cleaning is way way more than "a bit".

This time around he brought mineral spirits, odorless AAMOF.

I noticed,

1. No odor, although Swingman would testify that is smells like a refinery
13.6 miles NE of Pasadena, TX had just released .003 atoms of smelly stuff
into the atmosphere about 15 minutes prior. ;~)

2. It works just as well as thinner for cleaning the brushes.

3. I never once had a friggin dripping brush after lunch.

Does mineral spirits evaporate faster than thinner?


I don't know about the evaporation rate.
When I have to take a less than overnight break from painting/staining I wrap
the brush/roller/pad tightly in kitchen plastic wrap and set it aside. If
longer
than that I'll clean an oil based applicator. This will work for latex paint
too
and if you freeze it you can save it for days. I've not tried this with lacquer
so I can't say if it will work for it.
Art