Aside from white spirits and other solvents (messy and time consuming), is there a better way to clean oil paint from brushes?

I remember some time ago a TV commercial where the brush is spun with a drill inside a bucket and the brush is completely clean and dry very quickly. Is this any good?

Thanks,

Antonio

"asalcedo" wrote in message
...
|
| Aside from white spirits and other solvents (messy and time consuming),
| is there a better way to clean oil paint from brushes?
|
| I remember some time ago a TV commercial where the brush is spun with a
| drill inside a bucket and the brush is completely clean and dry very
| quickly. Is this any good?
|
| Thanks,
|
| Antonio
=====================
Hi Antonio,

The Dandy brush cleaner (see http://www.thebluepenguin.com/dandy.htm ) works
very well, but still uses solvents for oil paint.
Many readers of this group favour using cheap brushes, and discarding them
after use.
The ones I bought must have been too cheap, and left bristles in the paint
rather too often, so I use the Dandy (obtained some years ago from QVC).

Cheers,

Ian

On Sun, 6 Nov 2005 14:15:53 +0000, asalcedo
wrote:

|
| Aside from white spirits and other solvents (messy and time consuming),
| is there a better way to clean oil paint from brushes?

Swarfega then soap and water. Works with *fresh* paint.
--
Dave Fawthrop dave hyphenologist co uk
Help make Usenet a better place: English is read downwards,
please don't top post. Trim replies to quote only relevant text.
Check groups.google.com before asking an obvious question.

Dave Fawthrop wrote:
On Sun, 6 Nov 2005 14:15:53 +0000, asalcedo
wrote:

|
| Aside from white spirits and other solvents (messy and time consuming),
| is there a better way to clean oil paint from brushes?

Swarfega then soap and water. Works with *fresh* paint.

Swarfega is paraffin gel, so you can now pay a fraction the price.
These days brushes are so cheap I rarely bother with the oil ones.


NT

"asalcedo" wrote in message
...

Aside from white spirits and other solvents (messy and time consuming),
is there a better way to clean oil paint from brushes?

I remember some time ago a TV commercial where the brush is spun with a
drill inside a bucket and the brush is completely clean and dry very
quickly. Is this any good?

Thanks,

Antonio


I've got Dando paint thingy* cleaning system: ... one item caters for
brushes and a different item caters for rollers . IMHO they are very good
-does what it says!.
I bought mine at an Ideal Home show from a demonstrator but I've noticed
them on QVC and in the local 'Homebase' shed (where they're not
prominently displayed but can be found lurking amongst the paint-brushes
and such-like.

The operation is (for brushes and rollers place the paint-filled
applicator into the device - which obviously is pre-mounted into
a drill - then spin for a minute to have the paint flung off by
centrifugal/centripetal force (this action gets rid of most of the
pigment - dip the applicator into a solvent (white spirit for oil-based
paint ) then spin to clean the applicator. {You may have to repeat
this step). The applicator will be clean and dry. Ready for immediate
re-use.

There's a few 'tricks' I've developed with experience ...;-

I set up a cleaning station -before- starting to paint.
Workmate on which I place the drill-cum-Dando,
extension lead for drill, chuck key etc. etc. - Trust me you
don't want to be finding all these things while holding
a dripping paint brush ...
A bucket isn't deep enough to contain all the paint which is flung off,
I now utilise an old 'pedal bin' - it's tall enough to contain the
drill plus holder plus brush without me straining my back. The paint
is flung off with force - never spin the Dando until the set-up
is entirely within the pedal bin -[I can show you some trousers
with interesting banded patterns on the legs.]

One must use paint brushes with solid handles - I've discovered that the
hollow plastic handled brushes get splintered by the grasping
springs in the Dando brush holder.

For cleaning oil-based paints I've collected some of the
plastic milk containers - the two pint size is best IMHO.
After cleaning, hack through the container about half way
down and invert/jam the top into the bottom. Fill with
white-spirit to a sensible level. I find that I can immerse
the brush into the inverted top and 'work' it against the
sides. The pigments are suspended in the solution but
over-time migrate to the button of the container -below
the top-half of the container - leaving 'clean' fluid for
brushes. With the Dando, I arrange four such modified
containers - in an empty ice-cream container - then
Spin off raw pigment - dip into first white-spirit 'bottle-
spin again with Dando - dip into second w-s 'bottle' -
spin again - dip into third w-s bottle - spin again etc.
Each w-s 'bottle' is cleaner and cleaner and the brushes are
very clean. [it takes longer to read than perform the actions].
The ice-cream carton sits on the Workmate ... ready to
play its part in the cleaning operation.

For emulsion paints a water-filled bucket suffices for
dipping the brushes and rollers into a cleaning fluid.
[I never use oil-based paint for rolling.]

I'm certainly pleased with my purchase - and so is my wife
as the kitchen sink doesn't become a casualty for paint
brush/roller cleaning. And; I really do clean the brushes
when taking tea and/or lunch breaks - it's so quick.

You do become a bit of a fanatic about having clean
paint brushes and rollers!

HTH

--

Brian

On Sun, 6 Nov 2005 14:15:53 +0000, asalcedo
wrote:


I remember some time ago a TV commercial where the brush is spun with a
drill inside a bucket and the brush is completely clean and dry very
quickly. Is this any good?

It is one of the (very few) devices I bought for a tenner out of
admiration for the skill of the presenter at a show a decade or more
ago which does exactly what it promises. On oil paint I've found
spinning it, rubbing it in a teaspoon or so of raw washing up liquid,
spinning it and rinsing with hot water and spinning again works very
well, is cheap and quick. The roller cleaner also works well.

I have noticed the price of these devices varies enormously by the
way.


--
Peter Parry.
http://www.wpp.ltd.uk/

On Sun, 6 Nov 2005 14:15:53 +0000, asalcedo
wrote:

Aside from white spirits and other solvents (messy and time consuming),
is there a better way to clean oil paint from brushes?

Don't clean them - store them in a Brushmate instead. For a "gadget",
this thing works really remarkably well indeed.

asalcedo wrote:

I remember some time ago a TV commercial where the brush is spun with a
drill inside a bucket and the brush is completely clean and dry very
quickly. Is this any good?

Available from http://www.handysolutionsuk.com

David

In article ,
Dave Fawthrop writes:
On Sun, 6 Nov 2005 14:15:53 +0000, asalcedo
wrote:

|
| Aside from white spirits and other solvents (messy and time consuming),
| is there a better way to clean oil paint from brushes?

Swarfega then soap and water. Works with *fresh* paint.

You can use neat washing up liquid instead of the Swarfega.
(At least, it works with Fairy -- might be less successful
with the cheap dilute makes.)

--
Andrew Gabriel

On Sun, 6 Nov 2005 14:15:53 +0000, asalcedo
wrote:


Aside from white spirits and other solvents (messy and time consuming),
is there a better way to clean oil paint from brushes?

I remember some time ago a TV commercial where the brush is spun with a
drill inside a bucket and the brush is completely clean and dry very
quickly. Is this any good?

Thanks,

Antonio

Hi,

Sometimes I use a pressure washer at a low angle to the bristles after
rinsing the worst out in white spirit.

For storing between jobs a tin with some white spirit and foil wrapped
tightly round the top and the handle will stop it drying out for some
weeks.

cheers,
Pete.

In article ,
says...

Aside from white spirits and other solvents (messy and time consuming),
is there a better way to clean oil paint from brushes?

I do it this way:

wipe/squeeze with some newspaper to get most of the paint out

dunk in a jar of white spirit and squidge it around a bit

wipe/squeeze with some more newspaper and shake off

squidge some washing-up liquid right through the bristles

rinse thoroughly

shake off


If I'm going to be using the brush later with the same paint I don't
clean it, just wrap it in cooking foil - it will last for a day or two
between uses if you store it somewhere cool.

Ian Smeaton wrote:
"asalcedo" wrote in message
...
|
| Aside from white spirits and other solvents (messy and time consuming),
| is there a better way to clean oil paint from brushes?
|
| I remember some time ago a TV commercial where the brush is spun with a
| drill inside a bucket and the brush is completely clean and dry very
| quickly. Is this any good?
|
| Thanks,
|
| Antonio
=====================
Hi Antonio,

The Dandy brush cleaner (see http://www.thebluepenguin.com/dandy.htm ) works
very well, but still uses solvents for oil paint.
Many readers of this group favour using cheap brushes, and discarding them
after use.

Wrap them in cling film if you need to complete the job the next day.
Other wise it can get very wasteful.

MBQ

On Sun, 06 Nov 2005 16:49:06 -0000, Ian Smeaton
wrote:

Many readers of this group favour using cheap brushes, and discarding
them
after use.

Especially for Hammerite. Have you seen the price of the thinners? For
overnight storage the old clingfilm trick works for ordinary emulsion and
gloss.

John Schmitt

--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

On Sun, 06 Nov 2005 20:09:23 -0000, Andrew Gabriel
wrote:

You can use neat washing up liquid instead of the Swarfega.
(At least, it works with Fairy -- might be less successful
with the cheap dilute makes.)

It just needs more, exactly as per greasy dishes. As the packaging makes
up a significant fraction of the unit price, economy liquids can be a
false econonmy, unless you are into Blue Peter. I still remember the
helicopter thingy I built out of a Fairy Liquid bottle. The rotor bit is
probably still in the horse chestnut tree. :-(

John Schmitt

--
Using Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/mail/

John Schmitt wrote:
Ian Smeaton wrote:
Many readers of this group favour using cheap brushes, and
discarding them after use.

False economy, IMO, like using cheap paint!


Especially for Hammerite. Have you seen the price of the thinners?

Petrol is cheap and effective for cleaning this off.

On Mon, 07 Nov 2005 14:08:11 -0000, "John Schmitt"
wrote:

On Sun, 06 Nov 2005 20:09:23 -0000, Andrew Gabriel
wrote:

You can use neat washing up liquid instead of the Swarfega.
(At least, it works with Fairy -- might be less successful
with the cheap dilute makes.)

It just needs more, exactly as per greasy dishes. As the packaging makes
up a significant fraction of the unit price, economy liquids can be a
false econonmy, unless you are into Blue Peter. I still remember the
helicopter thingy I built out of a Fairy Liquid bottle. The rotor bit is
probably still in the horse chestnut tree. :-(

John Schmitt


Held up there by the sticky backed plastic and the milk bottle tops?


--

..andy

On Sun, 06 Nov 2005 19:23:26 +0000, Andy Dingley
wrote:



Don't clean them - store them in a Brushmate instead. For a "gadget",
this thing works really remarkably well indeed.

Available in two sizes, for four and (approx) 20 brushes. The smaller
about £10-12, the larger about £40 and often on offer. Sold a few to
decorators, who, as a breed, don't spend money on unnecessary kit.