What's the Best Way to Remove Oil Paint from a Paint Brush?

E. Mineral Spirits

Turpentine will work.

dip in paint remover, after 10´ rinse in any petroleum derivate, wash with water + detergent

I use a product called Turpenoid Natural - it works like turpentine, but it's not as toxic. Then soap and water. (I'm assuming you mean before the paint has dried.)

My tip was for recovering a brush with dry paint on it!

Question is why would you want to recover this brush?

throw away your brush and get a new one!!!!!!but I think soap and water will do the job because the paint is oil based....so soap the brush first and then wash it with water....

If it's wet, turpentine for 1/2 hour, if its dry, buy a new one. Oil based paint is designed to stay on, if it drys, the brush will never be the same again, even if you do get it off.

If it's a really good brush - sable. Use turpentine. When you think you've got all the paint out, dissolve some ordinary soap in the palm of your hand. Then, give the brush a good shampooing. This will remove the residual oils and make the brush good and clean.

If the paint has dried or not, I soak it in lacquer thinner. This is a fairly powerful blend of alcohols, acetone(fingernail polish remover) and other volatile stuff. I've used it for years with extreme flame caution. It gets the job done! Yet- you are right that the brush will never be the same. That is why my brushes go thru a progression. They start out as fine painting tools, then to solvent cleaning tools- then to machine chip removal, grease applicators, soap and acid scrubbers, sawdust brushes, and finally the naked handles prove to be good paint less dent removers, and cardboard box folding scribes.

One of my nicest engraving tools is made from an old triangle file, and a used paint brush handle.

If the brush has dried hard U can use any of the commercial paint stripper products, stand the brush in an old tin with enough to cover bristles for about 1/2 hr, then wash out, watch out though, the cost of the stripper can be more than the brush is worth !! & if splashed into eyes can cause serious damage !!! wear safety glasses, can also burn skin, use care .

If new & just finished painting remove as much paint from the brush as possible then wash out in "turps" till clean then wash in laundry tub ,[ if wife doesn't complain too much ],with hot water & washing up detergent then rinse out with hot water ,shake excess water out & let brush dry out. Good brushes are expensive, take care of them & they last for years. I save all the used jam & pet food cans washed out for brush cleaning tins.

Brien.

If you've let oil paint or acrylic paint dry in a good brush, take it out to the backyard, and just give it a decent burial in the "plot-o-shame."

By the way, if you're talking "real" paint stripper, it's methylene chloride. The stuff is really TOXIC, I swear it penetrates rubber gloves. Also, the fumes are toxic. The first clue to the fumes getting to you is a cold sensation on your face. The more you reduce your exposure to this stuff during your life the better (and longer) it'll be.

Hey, I like lacquer thinner as much as the next person, but the thought of putting a nice, sable brush into it makes my skin crawl. I'm glad to see you have a "brush schedule!" It sounds just about right!

In UK what we call white spirit (turpentine substitute) works OK, but to economise on it I get the bulk of the paint off with washing-up liquid first. Then white spirit, then if the white spirit white spirit has been used a few times washing-up liquid again.

Interestingly, washing-up liquid alone never gets it completely clean.

If its wet, use a washing up liquid with lots of surfactants in it, they will mix the oils with the water and wash thoroughly, maybe two or three times.

If its dry, hammer the bristles for a couple of hours, then swear, and use brush restorer.

Georgee

Or just use it for what it's become... A putty knife!

Choosing from the four choices you gave, it would be turpentine. If you want to use the proper product read the cleaning instructions provided by the manufacturer, right on the can label.

If for some reason a person lets the brush dry with paint on it -- Shame on them -- throw the brush away it will never be the same as if properly cared for, especially if it a good trim brush. Or use the damaged brush after getting in relatively good condition for cleaning the wheels on your car when washing it, works very well on spoked wheels.

You speak the truth!!!

Hear-hear on the Shame on them! Such people are on a par with those who don't clean a concrete mixer after use.

Absolutely correct -- but the concrete mixer is far worse, since you can't even use it to clean the wheels on your car.

I'm not complying with the original choices here. For a still-wet brush, I remove as much wet paint as possible onto newspaper, then clean it repeatedly in mineral spirits. I keep the used mineral spirits in plastic peanut butter jars, and decant the clear mineral spirits off the top to use again and again for brush cleaning. If I'm using the brush again in the next few days, I leave it sopping wet with clean mineral spirits and wrap it in several layers of grocery store plastic bags. Otherwise, I wash it with the gentlest waterless hand cleaner I have to remove any residual solids.

Note that the mineral spirits that I reclaim from oil based paints won't be very usable if I've clean a varnish-laden brush in them, this material doesn't decant out very well.

Boat Fixer

Choose one them

Soak it in MEK : Methyl Ether Ketone for 1 hour then wash with soap and water.

Else Soak it in Tricholoroethelene for one hour then wash with soap and water.

Kimi

USA

...I would keep my fingers away from Tricholoroethelene, as it is very flammable, and VERY toxic (it has the virtue of causing hepatitis, Liver cirrhosis or cancer!).

Given the case, I prefer getting a cirrhosis for drinking buse, instead of cleaning a brush!

The voice of sanity!!!

Trichloroehylene is not flammable, like all halogenated hydrocarbons. They are extremely toxic. If burning is attempted, it will decompose to release Chlorine gas which is even more poisonous.

Shrikant Dhekne / internationalpumps@yahoo.com

OK, where can I get a quart of that?

Ya know, if you have a really good red sable brush, you have just mentioned the two things I'd never do. What has to be remembered here is, like the hair of any top model, it can handle only so much rough treatment before she's never going to be able to pull off that last photo shoot. Red sable is no exception. The gentler you treat it, the longer it will last. Considering a 3/8" high quality brush can cost close to $50.00, it's worth the extra effort.

MEK is some serious Shi-ite. I don't like to use that or xylene anymore after burning my lungs with it. Xylene is the only substance that I know of that can strip an Epoxy Floor.

Just for information if anyone is doing woodwork with laquer or paint on it:

I used almost every chemical I could find trying to get this 50 year old lacqer off the Red Oak woodwork in my house. Nothing worked good enough to justify the harmful effects of it so I went with one of those Black plastic scrub wheels that you can put in a drill...Slung it right off the woodwork in seconds without gumming up too bad or damaging the wood. Then after I got it mostly clean I wiped it with acetone and finish sanded it.

"What product should be used to clean a paint brush used to apply an oil-based paint?"

E. Painters 'tri-sodium phosphate. Suspend, do NOT STAND, the brush in a tall can large enough to accommodate the brush. Add a solution of the TSP to cover the bristles completely and set aside to soften the paint. You may have to work the bristles back and forth as in painting to remove the paint.

It is far better to clean paint brushes immediately after painting, clean thoroghly, wrap in craft paper and set aside to dry.

OK, if you're talking about a brush used to apply oil-based paint to, say, a house, it's a little different than an art brush, but not by much.

My dad had a prized brush (5" wide) that he'd never let anyone use besides himself. If the painting job was long, he'd stop and clean it a couple of times before the job was done. He used paint thinner, then rinsed it well, then cleaned it with soap (not detergent) and let it dry. "Time for a beer!"

The main thing he never ever did was let the handle or the metal collar around it get wet. If the handle gets wet, it will eventually swell and contract and make the structure that holds the bristles to the handle get all wobbly and occasionally drop a bristle into the paint job.

All the above can be done and can be assisted by using a wire brush to clean the part of the brush were the bristles meet. Hold the brush over a rounded edge and let a bit of elbow grease do the job. I'm a bit like vermins dad. Nobody touches my brushes. If you use oil paints put the brush into the freezer over night and you can keep going the next day. To make sure Mum doesn't find it put it in an old pizza box. This is a neat way to save a pallet too if you are not a waster. Lets paint this City.KY.

If your post is in the form of a test question about oil painting then the amazing Bob Ross ( white guy with afro hairdo, oil painter that makes happy trees) would say TURPENTINE!

The chemical I have had the best luck with is ACETONE. Alcohol, turpentine, and lacquer thinner all have smells that linger and soap and water does not work as fast. If you want to take the work out of it, get an old coffee can with lid and fill it up enough to soak the brush. Put the lid on and swirl it around a little after it has set a couple minutes then take a rag and work all of the bristels and do it over again. The smell doesn't linger as bad as the others and you don't have a stinking film on your hands after using turpentine or Lac. Thinner.

Also the acetone is fast drying, probably the reason it doesn't linger but if you forgot to clean your brush out and need to do some painting right away, it will evaporate fast from the brush and won't leave you waiting to paint. In addition you get the splendid pleasure of your wife saying, "what's that smell?, You made the house stink!"

In addition you can also take 1 to 3 ounces of fresh acetone and add it to every ten gallons of gas to improve engine performance and fuel efficiency. I tried it and it works. You can almost instantly hear your vehicle's engine running smoother.

another feature of it is that if you have a cut on your hand, it will make it tingle and become pain free, not sure if it is good or bad but it felt better, lol.

Notro work well but the best at all is benzene. But try next time to use working clothes.

Instead of benzene, I'd use five pounds of C4, followed by a full napalm drop, and good scrubbing with VX. Then, just to make sure, I'd slip it into thermite, and follow it off with a full volley of Tomahawk missiles. That will teach the bastard brush to join am international terror cell!

If this doesn't work, please write me on the use of brushes and 20mm cannons!

Some people say "Why don't you just use turpentine?" and I say, "Well where's the sport in that?!"

Vermin, I suppport your theory!

Napalm is the only way of cleaning a f...g paint brush

Or submerge the brush in a nuclear reactor core--that might do something..

to the core?

probably.

If the brush needs replacing after all the remedies suggested here have been tried in vain, then remember that a squirrel's hair brush is only good enough for painting squirrels...

I thought it was only good for "brushing" squirrels?

If everything suggested is tried there isn't going to be a brush -- just a handle AKA paint stirring stick.

Different ways to consider first:

1. Do you want to clean an old brush with dried up oil based paint?

2. Or a new brush that has just been used for oil based painting and you want to put it to storage for the next paint job?

If you have No 1 in mind, you have to soak it in lacquer thinner for an hour or more, depends on how thick old paint has dried up. When paint has softened, try brush it on waste carton or squeezed off with any old newspaper. Dip again into new lacquer thinner and repeat until no paint trace is seen.

If you have the second scene, try squeezing or brushing on old newspaper or rug until no farther paint is removed. Dip and wiggle into clean turpentine. Repeat until no trace of paint is seen on solvent. Do not discard turpentine as it can be used for the next cleaning job. The reason to remove as much paint before soaking so you use less of the solvent.

E. Kerosene

Will not dry out your brush during long term storage, keeps it soft and supple, and it's cheap.