How do I clean my varnish brushes please? Help!!

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hannahman

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Hi everyone, my first posting!

I don't know why, but I just can not keep varnish brushes successfully.
After the second or third use, despite careful cleaning, the dreaded rigormortis sets in, and on I have to go to the next brush! As soon as I finnish varnishing I spend several minutes washing the brush in either white spirit, brush cleaner or varnish thinners, but when it comes to the next time to use it I can already detect stiffening of the bristles.
If I leave the brush standing in the container of thinners the ends of the bristles will splay out, so that's no good, and suspending the brush in thinners doesn't seem to work either.

Where am I going wrong, please? !!

Doug
 
I'm sure this will generate a few different replies, my method is that I use cheapo B and Q white spirit, first wipe excess varnish from brush back into tin, replace lid on tin, then wash brush in spirit, dispose of spirit, flick brush a few times to remove excess, wash brush in spirit again, dispose of spirit and flick brush, 3rd lot of spirit, wash brush, flick dry, wipe dry with clean cloth and keep spirit in jar for first clean next time.
 
Take your hardened brushes and stand them in nitromors then carefully press them down to work the nitromors right up the brisles to the handle. Keep working the brush until it feel s soft again then wash the brush under running water to removes all the siftened varnish and the remains of the nitromors. Wash again in warm soapy water again working the soapy water up into the bristles. Rinse well and shake the water out of the brush then put an elastic band round the bristles to hold them in tight and put the brush somewhere warm to dry. Next time wash in thinners then wash again in fresh thinners then wash again in fresh thinners then wash in warm soapy water and repeat the elasticband trick and allow to dry.
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I use the same procedure for any oil-based paint or varnish. I wash the brush several times in mineral turps and tip the used turps into a tin for the pigment to settle out. After I feel that I have got out as much paint as I am going to get out, I work dishwashing deterget into the brush as thoroughly as I can and then wash that out. I usually find that the brush is nice and soft next time I want it. Next time I need to wash a brush out, I use the used turps first, decanting it carefully so that I leave the sediment behind. I do as much as I can with this used turps and then finish with the fresh stuff before the detergent. With each wash I only use a small amount of turps, preferring a large number of washes to using a large quantity in each change.
Peter.
 
I use the Larry Pardey method: Rinse four times in thinners, as others have described. Then work clean engine oil into the bristles, and in particular the heel area. Wrap the oiled brush in tin foil for storage. When you come to use the brush again rinse once in thinners.
If I will be using the brush again within a few days I don't oil it, I wrap it in newspaper after rinsing in thinners.
 
Two goes at the thinners and then work in liquid washing machine detergent. A good rinse and wrap with a piece of kitchen tissue to keep the bristles together as it dries. Works with the good quality synthetic bristle brushes that I keep just for varnishing.
 
Its better to suspend the brush - drill through the handle just above the ferrule and shove a bit of stiff fence wire through.

But whilst paint brushes can sit in thinner for quite a while, varnish brushes cannot.

As others have said - two or three lots of thinner - decant the third lot and re-use as the first lot next time.

The "great unspoken" is what we all do with used thinners, of course...

Then wash the brush. I've started using Swarfega rather than detergent, but it does not make much difference.
 
For the past couple of years, I have just chucked them in a jar of pure turps.

The next day or the next month I just flick them and start varnishing again.
 
One tip I would pass on which an old timer gave me is to get a tick comb and run this through the brushes after final cleaning. This get any old varnisg reidue off before it dries and contaminates your next varnish session
 
Thanks everybody for your answers. I shall try the various methods suggested.
I dread to think of the number of brushes I've wasted over the years! Mind you, I've probably still got most of them!

Doug
 
Haven't cleaned a varnish brush for years. My nice oval Hamilton brushes are suspended by the handle into linseed oil (a hole drilled in the neck with a nail would do the trick for a single brush). Be sure your brushes are suspended above the bottom of your jar/container - if the bristles rest on the bottom they'll sit in all the dust and rubbish that's got into the container and could also take up a permanent bend.

Never did find the ultimate answer to transporting containers full of linseed oil and brushes if you need to carry them in a car......

In the case of brushes you think are past their best - try an electric wire brush. The sort found on the other end of a grinder spindle is usually best. You'd be amazed how even a 'dead' paint brush can be brought back to life. O.F.
 
Lots of good suggestions still coming in, thanks!
The best containers I find for storing or transporting thinned varnish or thinners/white-spirit etc (ok, without brushes in obviously) are the plastic soup containers you can get in Tesco etc that you pop in the microwave. The lids pop back on and form a good airtight seal. Similarly I use the smaller ones that sauces for pasta come in etc. They are good for keeping small quantities of 'touch-up' varnish in. Eventually any bits of left-over varnish in the bottom will pull out in one piece and you can re-use the container.

Doug
 
B&Q sell a plastic brush tub with an internal clippy ring that suspends the brush by its handle with the bristles in turps/linseed or white spirit.
I thought they were a bit naff, but they come into their own if you have to transport gear by dinghy/car as the lid has a bayonet action.
I advise to keep upright just in case.
 
In oz we have stuff called pure gum turps it cleans varnish off in one go use same principle as some of the posts put brush in to turps wipe on to rag the back into tups and repeat let dry. Some times brushes go hard and washing them out in hot soapy water after they been cleaned in turps will soften them up
 
clean excess out with real turpentine, then leave in a jar of reqal turps, with cling fiolm wrapped around the handle and jar, real trups evaprates very slowly, make sur ethe turps is right up to the top of the bristles. they will last years.
 
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