"john hamilton" wrote in message
...

There were a few brushes there in the normal kind of widths, but were
quite thin (about half the thickness of a usual bristle brush).

The assistant said that they were varnish brushes. Looking back on it i
cannot think why varnish brushes would be thinner. Can anyone say why
please?

In N.American paint stores, vendors tell customers to avoid introducing
air bubbles into varnish because of its viiscosity (i.e. they should not
shake
the can the way paint is mixed by shaking.) Perhaps specially thin brushes
reduce the incidence of bubbles during application.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)