Tipping brush recommendations?

[Fonda@kauai]

I have Purdy ones available at HD, but a friend of mine swears by Da Vinci brushes. They're synthetic if that matters and about $50 a piece online. Any suggestions?

[TomW]

Don't use a synthetic bristle brush. No matter how fine they split the bristles they can't split them as fine as a natural wild boar or badger brush. A really good one will cost in the neighbor hood of $40-60. One that will do the same as your synthetic is $30-40. Joel sells the Corona brand at a steal in the store for $21, these are normally 30-35 out in the real world.

Just my experience there isn't a top notch finisher out there that would use a synthetic brush with a high quality finish. Synthetics are used for thick paints with heavier flow times that the bristle marks have time to flow . There are always the exceptions of course but of the ones I know and the ones I respect this is my experience.

Places to look are the independent paint stores;Sherwin Williams, Ace Hardware stores, etc.

Tom

[Guest]

Cool, thanx for the heads up. So would a Purdy brush be good, or do I need to go with a finer badger hair one?

[Fonda@kauai]

^^^ Sorry that was me

[TomW]

Unless they carry the Purdy 'White China' brand go elsewhere. I just looked up there line and it is the only one I would use, all the others are only good for paint. And to be honest the "White China" is not as good as a "Black China" brush. They tend to be a little stiffer.

Tom

[Fonda@kauai]

So my friend brought by some of his Da Vinci brushes and they were badger hair, so it sounds like they'll do the trick. The ones I saw were synthetic and nowhere near as soft as the natural one. Pretty amazing little brushes, I'll post how they worked when I'm done

[Fonda@kauai]

Badger hair worked great! Pics are in my thread "Malolo, panga 22 kauai". Anyway a friend showed me a good trick I'll pass along. Before rolling and tipping the brush should be "conditioned". You take whatever thinner is used for the varnish or paint you're using, in this case sterlings brushing thinner, and wet the brush with it. Then shake all excess out of the brush. You can even hold the brush handle between your palms and spin it, like you're trying to start a fire with a stick. The idea is to get as much of the excess thinner out of the brush as possible. It should be barely damp. Dry bristle's are "thirsty" and the thinner somehow keeps the brush from getting clogged with paint. It really works, not once did I feel the brush dragging, and it made it much easier to clean afterword.

[Murry]

Thanks for that tip Fonda.