The Nurturing of Your Brush
With the right care, a
brush can last a lifetime.
First, let’s discuss choosing
the correct brush for the work required.
For pasting, you want to select a size that reduces the number of trips
to the paste pot. Too many trips means
that the paste coverage will be inconsistent and/or spots will be missed. Don’t skimp on the size. You want to load the brush once and finish
the complete job.
For more precise adhesive
applications, consider a flat brush, still keep in mind the trips to the glue
pot.
Now, how to make your
brush live forever...ALWAYS PRE-SOAK THE BRUSH in water. Dry natural bristles absorb the liquids
around them. By pre-soaking the bristles
in water, they fill up with water so that when the bristles are dipped in
paste, the paste remains on the outside of the bristle. During a thorough wash, all the paste can be
easily removed and the bristles will remain flexible.
In addition,
pre-soaking natural or artificial bristled brushes will draw water up into the
ferrule of the brush. This stops the adhesive
from being drawn up into this area, only to descend later into the exposed
bristles, causing them to dry stiff.
Allow the brush to dry
with bristles pointing down so that the water doesn’t remain sitting in the
ferrule area where it can form mildew.
This can be accomplished by adding loop of cord which might require
drilling a hole in the handle.