I find the key to clean brushes is pretreat them prior to dipping into
the finish. Water for latex and thinner for oil. Wet them up to the
ferrule. Stops the finish that migrates toward the ferrule due to
bristle moving against each other from drying and making the brush
less limber. Also makes clean-up much easier as there is no dried
finish to try to soften. I salvaged a neglected brush by soaking in
CitriStrip to remove the dried stuff then went through final cleaning
with Dawn and water. CitriStrip is a friendly and gentle stripper.

On 29 Aug 2004 16:04:38 -0700, (raymondj) wrote:

I clean white china bristle brushes using paint thinner and one of
those metal combs used for cleaning brushes. This appears to work but
after time the amount of "usable" bristles gets smaller. From the
metal piece growning downward it turns into a rock.

I purposely try to get this section by turning the brush upside down
with fresh paint thinner on it and working it with the comb.

What am I doing wrong, or is this just life? Thanks.