Do you clean your paintbrush after use or bin it? In an extremely rare moment today I was persuaded by my wife to do some painting, not a great amount just the high bits she couldn’t reach.
I hate DIY with a passion so despite my attempts to get out of it, my wife became insistent and I quickly did the twenty-minute job. Then just as I was about to bin the £2 paint brush I was told not to as it would need a second coat and I needed to clean the brush.
So I start with warm soapy water, after all that is what I remember my father using when I was a kid and it also sorts the kids’ paints out. Big mistake, this paint has some kind of gloss or oil base so hands become very white and no amount of scrubbing is getting them clean anytime soon.
I am then informed I need white spirit. I pour this on and start cursing and swearing as it finds every little paper cut on my hands that I have but it is not having a massive effect on brush. After about half a bottle my hands are clean, probably a layer of skin removed and the brush now has black bristles and not white although I am not sure it is “clean”.
With no instructions on the bottle of white spirit other than “do not drink or set fire” and the paint pot saying “use white spirit to clean”, do I soak the brush, rinse the brush or bin it and buy another for the second coat? Any help gratefully received.
Mark Sage Blogs 