A friend called me out on my paintbrush cleaning habit

I used to just rinse my brushes under the faucet and let them sit in a cup of water between coats. My buddy who restores vintage dressers watched me do it and was like, 'You're wrecking the bristles like that.' He said to wrap them tight in plastic wrap and stick them in the fridge overnight if you're not done. I tried it with my last project, a nightstand I'm redoing in my garage, and the brush was perfect the next morning. No crusty paint chunks or weird bend in the bristles. Anyone else got stubborn habits someone had to point out for you?

2 comments

2 Comments

johnh821mo ago

and that fridge trick is a game changer honestly, it's wild how long we go doing stuff the hard way without even thinking about it. i used to clean my brushes with mineral spirits and then just leave them soaking in a coffee can full of it for days, thinking that was keeping them soft. turns out that's a great way to make the bristles curl and get all loose from the ferrule over time. my neighbor who does automotive painting yelled at me about it, said to just wipe them down and hang them bristles down, or wrap them like you said if i'm coming back to it. now i hang them on a wire hook in my garage with a paper towel wrapped around the tip, keeps them perfect and no smell killing me. the plastic wrap fridge trick is genius for overnight though, i'm gonna steal that for my next weekend project for sure.

gavinhunt1mo ago

Oh man, I gotta jump in here real quick. That fridge trick works but only if you wrap the brush tight in plastic wrap so no air gets in. Otherwise the paint starts to skin over and you get little chunks in it the next day. Learned that one the hard way when I pulled out a brush that looked like it had dandruff. Also worth mentioning that latex paint can get funky in the fridge if you leave it more than a day or two, the temperature changes mess with the emulsion. Still a solid trick for your basic weekend project though, just don't push it past 24 hours.