On Oct 3, 11:50*am, "dadiOH" wrote:
Here's what I do...

1. Hang brush in a can of water covering a bit of the ferrule. *Note I said
"hang".

2. After an hour or so, most of the paint will have fallen out. *Remove
brush and rinse well in clean water. *Squeeze from the ferrule down.

3. Wash with Boraxo, squeezing from ferrule down.

4. Thoroughly rinse to remove Boraxo squeezing - you guessed it - from the
ferrule down. *Filling a deep container and surging the brush up and down
will help.

5. *Examine the bristles especially just under the ferrule. *If they are
clean, smooth bristles and hang the brush to dry. *If they aren't clean, go
to some number above.

2. is there something I can add to latex to slow down the drying time.
I think 30 seconds is a bit too short.

Flotrol.

No paint dries in 30 seconds. *Whatever you are painting may suck up the
water in the paint so it seems dry but it isn't. *I suggest you toss the
"self priming" paint (all paint is) and use primer.

3. is there something that removes/prevents that sludge build up in
the brush?

To prevent it, clean the brush thoroughly. *To remove it, use "Brush
Cleaner", available at any hardware store.

--

dadiOH

Great list of instructions!

I misremembered what the pro painter I worked for used to do with his
brushes. For overnight, he simply placed his paint brush in the paint
container. [even down into a gallon bucket] In the morning he'd
simply wipe off the handle and start working. For longer term storage,
he put the brush in the freezer.

I checked with HD, and asked them for a flattening agent, and they
recommended flotrol also.

Why Boraxo? How is it different than Palmolive dishwashing soap?

I did indeed start putting the brush in water overnight. Forgot that
paint uses oxygen to cure, so the air in the water still makes the
paint coagulate, but at least with water it's pretty loose stuff.

Brush cleaner...hate adding costs, but if simplifies worth it. And
from experience Jasco and such do a trip to the brush anyway.

With regard to drying time, the paintgot sticky instantly so
feathering in was not possible, however the paint seemed still
slightly tacky the next morning approx 12 hours later. I'm leaning
towards thinking that the paint was not completely cured and reacted
with the second coat. so I'm trying an experiment to wait 3 days and
see what painting a cured paint layer is like.