Brush Care

[Nagano21]

Where can I find some posts on brush care? I watched a vid by geofatboy but that seemed a little excessive.

My current routine is when I am done, to give it a thorough rinse with warm to hot water and shake out well. Is this enough. I am still new, so when will one know whether to do something more, or perhaps need to replace their current brush?

Also with mine being new, I notice a hair or two come undone, is this normal?

Thanks

 

[oldbluelight]

Avoid too vigorous a shake and you might want to grip the brush by the base of the knot while you're shaking it. You might want to add a swipe or two of the tips across a towel. As long as you allow it to dry in the open air you should be fine. If it has a wooden handle, painted or varnished, you might want to dry it knot down in a brush stand. Shedding is normal for new brushes. It's also normal for old scalps. If it's doing what you want you don't need to replace but don't let that stop you from getting another one or two or twelve or......

 

[SteveWY]

Try these...

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Interactive_Guide_to_the_Shaving_Brushes, look under Care and Maintenance.

http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/How_to_Clean_a_Shaving_Brush

Just FYI, my routine is:

Daily Care: Rinse well with warm water, shake out water briskly (I don't squeeze/pull on the bristles), give it several 10-15 good swipes across a dry towel, hang bristles down in a brush stand (if no stand, lay on its side). I typically rotate brusshes, giving each 48 hours to dry between uses to allow for full drying. That is probably not necessary but a routine I started.

"Scheduled Maintenance": Every couple months I give my brushes a good soak and clean in shampoo, dish soap, or anti-bacterial hand soap. I soak the brush in warm soapy water for about an hour and then follow my rinse and dry steps. I have even given brushes a hair conditioner treatment but i don't think it has any benefit because the bristles are so thick compared to a human hair.

+1 on the shedding. No worries, situation normal Some shed a few, some shed a lot. When you consider the hundreds or thousands of hairs in a brush, even a dozen or two hairs lost is nothing.

 

[Nagano21]

Awesome Thanks!

 

[Useless shaver]

you don't need to replace but don't let that stop you from getting another one or two or twelve or......

There you nailed it!

 

[celestino]

Good luck with the maintenance and don't fret too much with the cleaning and the one or two hairs falling out. It should stop shedding soon.

 

[dpmtherrien]

I rinse mine first in hot/warm water, then in cold water. After a few good sharp flicks to remove any excess water, I paint it up and down on a towel. Then I hang it bristles down in a brush holder to air dry. I have a 5 brush rotation, so I won't use that one brush again for a few days to a week. I've always done this routine, and never have I had a problem with any of the brushes. Don't worry about a loose hair every so often.

 

[tubeandplate]

I just posted this in another similar thread this morning.

If anyone here things I'm doing something wrong to the brush, please post and let me know:


I may be doing something aggredious (SP?), but I use a brush comb on mine.

A brush comb is a painter's tool used for cleaning/thoroughly rinsing paint brushes during cleaning, and to comb out the hairs/bristles to keep a nice brush nice with all the bristles aligned and in good shape during drying and storage.

Seemed like a natural thing to use one on my shave brushes.

At this point I only have a VDH and Semogue (each $10 boars), so I was trying the brush comb on them and figured it wouldn't hurt much if I did something wrong.

So far, it works well.

I run it under the tap, water flow in direction with the bristles (from not to bristle ends, not the other way) and rotate under tap water as I comb it out.

Like with paint brushes, it's easier on the knot and bristles than wringing or squeezing which can mis-shape them.

And, it is the only real effective way to get the diluted soap (paint and thinner with a paintbrush) out of the tight knot area.

The combs I have are stainless teeth (round and pointed) embedded in a plastic handle.

It doesn't take long at all, and works great.

Then, I "throw" the excess water out in the bathtub, and hang the brush bristles down in a rubber stamp holder to dry with gravity workign for you.


I just ordered a silver tip badger Semogue, and I'm not sure that the comb is ok or knot (LOL) to use on a badger, but I'll likely try it anyway.

The comb idea seems to be a natural re-purpose appropriate to shave brushes to me, and I've found it works very, very well.


If anyone things I"m doing something dangerous to a badger brush by doing this, please let me know, but I can't see how it would hurt.

Very effective at getting the materials out of the hard to clean lower knot area and on out to the end of the bristels without a lot of sqeezing and wringing, which I do think is hard on the bristles.


A brush comb like this at the paint store is like $3 or something...maybe less.


Chris

EDIT and PS-Some painters like myself, look at brushes as a necessary premium tool to spend money on to get better performance and a great paintbrush can last for years if cared for properly, and make the painting go better and look better. The nicer brushes I have are handmade and use Boar bristles and other types of animal hair like shaving brushes...these are more costly than China bristles....so in many ways, the paralells between handmade high end paint brushes and shave brushes are similar. I France, as I understand it, paint brushes are built like shaving brushes with a circular knot instead of like American brushes with the rectangular shape we are all familiar with. A high end paint brush can cost as much as a mid range shaving brush.

 

[mdw15]

I ordered my first brush with a stand, so when I got my second brush, and the third, I acquired more stands. I've become persuaded since reading the comments here at B&B that stands aren't at all necessary. I kept getting stands with each new brush more for the look, and have stands for all of the brushes now except for the one boar, the one horse, and the one travel (Simpson Major in super badger, which really has its own "stand" in its unusual handle, anyway).

I don't shake the brushes. I gently press the loft into a towel a few times, turning the handle after each time and therefore the loft and therefore get the whole loft press-dried. I then move the loft swiftly but gently in the towel to restore a bloom and then put the badger brush in the stand or sit the boar or horse on the handle.

Although the Major when screwed back into its holder is exposed at the bottom, and can dry that way to some degree I guess, I prefer to let the still assembled brush dry on its handle, giving the loft more exposure to the air while drying obviously. Of course I have had to shave and run and then later, at the next destination, reassemble the brush to continue drying it out. The Simpson Major in 2 band super badger is a classic of design, materials and workmanship and is sui generis as to the question of whether one needs a stand.

As long as a brush dries in the open air after being properly rinsed (don't leave a newly used and rinsed brush in an enclosed space smaller than a room), the loft can be left up or down or sideways. Respective wicking properties and evaporation rates are not affected, to any discernable degree, so it is reported, whatever the direction. I left the two non badger brushes (I have no synthetics) without stands in part because their handles have different shapes than those of the Simpson and Rooney badger brushes for which I had already found stands.

Obviously zillions, approximately, of people have used a single brush each day for many years, whether the brush dried completely in the meantime or not. I like to think that a major benefit of multiple brushes is my confidence that the brush I pick up will have been completely dried from the previous use, but the palpable self-interest in that remark renders useless my pathetic rationalization. Let's just say that, given the choice, I prefer a choice.