Oddly enough, the way to make cleaning your brushes an
easy task starts before you use the brush.
Take a clean brush and soak it for about a minute or
two up to the ferrule -- that's the metal part just between
the handle and the bristles -- in whatever the solvent
for your coating happens to be. For varnish, it will be
mineral spirits; for shellac, it's alcohol; for lacquer
use lacquer thinner; for waterborne coatings, simply water.
Squeeze out the excess solvent, leaving the bristles
wet but not dripping, then dip the brush one third to half
way into the coating. The solvent that remains in the "reservoir" --
the area inside the bristles just below the ferrule --
will help the coating flow and will prevent the upper portion
of the brush from acquiring a dried crust of coating as
you work.
As you brush, you will notice that the finish tends to
start creeping up the brush toward the ferrule, and starts
to get drier up there too. When that happens, stop for
about 20 seconds, quickly rinse the brush in a pan of the
appropriate solvent, squeeze out the excess, and go back
to work. That short break will guarantee that the brush
keeps flowing finish as well as it did when you started,
and the cleanup will be quick and easy when the time comes.
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