Cleaning oil-based paint from brush efficiently

cleaningpainting

Each time I need to use oil-based paint, I struggle for the paintbrush cleaning part. Here is how I proceed:

  1. I start by trying to squeeze the paint out from the brush, using paper towel, as much as I can, without thinner (of course, I get paint all over my hands after this).
  2. Then, I have an old jar in which I keep the white spirit from previous cleanings (the white spirit there is really dirty). I put the brush in it, stir a bit, and squeeze again with more paper towel (now it gets on the ground too).
  3. When I feel it's enough, I hold the brush, tilted, above some more new paper towel, and drip some fresh clean white spirit on the top of the bristles. I see some of the remaining paint getting drained with it and I wipe it on the paper towel.
  4. I check if there is still paint on the brush by wiping it on more fresh paper towel. Of course there is. Repeat step 3. Again. Again.
  5. I eventually get tired of that, and say it's enough. I put the brush away.
  6. When I need to reuse two weeks later, it is rock hard. I usually manage to get it back to condition by putting some white spirit on it and flex it gently, little by little.

Overall, I wasted:

  • Twenty minutes
  • Half a roll of paper towel
  • Not that much white spirit, thanks to the old jar, but still quite a bit (I can probably clean a brush 10 times with 1L)
  • The ground and my hands

It doesn't seem very effective. Is there a better process? Using less paper towel, less white spirit, which takes less time and which is more gentle to the environment (which includes the natural environment, but also the ground and my hands)?

Best Answer

Traditionally, we would keep the jar still and covered and in some time the paints settle to the bottom and we’d decant or carefully pour off the top layer of clean solvent into a different jar. The crud that’s left in jar one can be scraped out with a stick, then wiped clean with paper towels or old rags - either can be a fire hazard so store away from the house in a steel can with tight lid. Re-use the clean solvent. I lightly push the brush into the jar which has solvent level == to about 3/4 length of the bristles. Dab and twist lightly several times, then flex the bristles on dry part of jar to remove as much solvent/paint as possible. Go to a jar with cleaner solvent. It takes two or three such steps to get most of the paint from the brush. I don’t think you can get 100%. The majority of the solvent is preserved and recycled.

Oil painting and saving the brushes is a pain. Typically I don’t reuse a brush from dark or saturated paints with light colors on the next go around. Dry the cleaned brush as much as possible and store it with the bristles in the correct shape and wrapped with paper towels and a rubber band on the ferrule. It will get stiff but you can condition it just before use by working it dry or with a little solvent compatible with your paint, as you described. Good quality bristles will last a number of such uses.

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