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Paint Brushes

A high quality brush should cost as much as a gallon of paint

It may seem like a conflict of thought that a book whose main theme is painting should have paint brushes, rather than paint, as the topic of its first chapter. The reason for this is that paint applicators, whether brush, roller or spraying equipment, must meet certain quality standards before you can achieve a good paint job. Even the most expensive paint, if applied with a shoddy, inexpensive paint brush, will give less than acceptable results.

Conversely, a good brush spreads paint evenly and leaves no glaring brush marks or loosened bristles on the surface. It is easy to handle, doesn't pull, and you can keep cleaning and re-using if for many years. A high quality paint brush should cost you almost as much as a gallon of high quality paint.

What is meant by a high quality paint brush? The finest ones use 100 percent nylon as the filament or pure natural bristles of which hog hair is best. Nylon filament brushes can be used with any type of paint, including water-emulsion and oil base paints. Natural bristle blushes should be used only with oilbase paint, varnish, shellac, and lacquer.

Never use a natural bristle brush in a water-emulsion paint. Bristles absorb water like a blotter. They become sloppy, destroying their ability to spread paint evenly and smoothly.

When you go to buy paint brushes, there are three things to consider: style, size, and physical characteristics. Style and size allow you to select the one brush best suited for the job you are doing. Physical characteristics allow you to distinguish a good brush from one that is cheaply made.