Give that dirty paintbrush tough love

Dear Tim: I am having trouble cleaning paintbrushes. My high-quality brushes are stiff halfway up from the tips, even though I have been using latex paint and washing them with warm water immediately after each use. I have tried using products that claim they will restore paintbrushes, but none have worked. In fact, they seem to harm the brushes. How do you clean paintbrushes so they last for years? Is it possible, or should I just buy disposable paintbrushes and throw them away after each job?

Jack L., Findlay, Ohio

Dear Jack: It is time for some tough love. The expensive brushes are being ruined because you are not cleaning them properly. It took me a few years of experimentation to figure out one good way to clean paintbrushes, whether they’re synthetic fiber for latex paint or natural fiber used for oil paints. Believe it or not, I have a few paintbrushes I have used more than 100 times. They look like new, and the bristles have no paint in them where they connect to the brush body.

As for the brush-revival products, you couldn’t pay me to use them. The skull and crossbones image on the labels of many of these products tells me they are highly toxic. Examine the labels and you will often see chemicals listed such as acetone, methanol, methylene chloride, toluene and xylene. Some of these chemicals are very dangerous and can cause serious and permanent health issues. It is easier and safer simply to learn how to care for your paintbrushes rather than to try bringing them back from the dead.

The process of cleaning a paintbrush starts at the beginning of the paint day. All too often I see people take a new brush or a dry one and dip it directly in the paint. This, in my opinion, is a mistake. On hot, dry days the paint on the outside of the brushes up near the handle can harden within an hour or two.

You can prevent this, or slow the hardening of the paint, by getting the brush wet with water before you start to use it. Use water when applying latex or water-based paint. If you are painting with oil paint, dip the brush in paint thinner before getting paint on the brush. Be sure to lightly shake out any excess water or paint thinner before dipping the brush for the first time into the paint.

If you take breaks during painting, you need to get the brush out of the sun, and it needs to be wrapped with a damp rag if you are using latex paint. The rag stops the evaporation of water and other chemicals from the paint. It keeps the paint on and in the brush fresh. Use a rag soaked in paint thinner if you are applying oil-based paint. If painting outdoors, I will actually clean my brush if I stop to eat lunch. It only takes two minutes to clean a brush, so I don’t lose much time from my well-deserved break.

I have seen people ruin a brand new paintbrush the first time they clean it. They turn on the sink faucet and then turn the brush upside down to get the water stream to shoot straight into the tips of the bristles. Never do this. It is totally unnecessary. Another bad idea is pushing down on the bristles and bending them at a 90-degree angle to squeeze out the paint. This stresses the bristles and causes premature bristle failure.

Through trial and error, I discovered that the best way for me to clean latex or water-based paint out of brushes is to rinse as much of it out as I can with warm water flowing over the outside of the bristles. The next step is to take an old paint can that has been cleaned of all paint and fill it halfway with warm, soapy water. Two tablespoons of common liquid dish soap works well in a half-gallon of water.

Dip the brush into the soapy water and rapidly move it back and forth, making sure the bristles do not touch the bottom of the can. Be careful, as vigorous movement can splash some of the soapy, paint-saturated water onto your clothes or in your face. Twenty seconds of back-and-forth motion will remove 95 percent of the paint from the entire brush.

Refill the can halfway with just clear warm water and repeat the process. If the water turns slightly cloudy, it means you still have more paint in the brush. Continue the fresh-water rinsing process until the water remains perfectly clear. If there is hardened paint on the handle or tops of the bristles near the handle, use a stiff nylon brush to clean off this paint. Scrub the bristles gently at a 90-degree angle to remove the paint.