Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-10-08
How To Keep Varnish Brushes.

In well known cookery book, the au-
thOress prccedeS her Instructions, GLOW to
cook hare" with the sage advice, First
catch your bare" In the same manner, |
would Introduce my method of keeping a
HaTnleh brush in good working order with the
ADVICE, "tirst get your brrIsh;' and every
c0ach painter VIII understand what this i'm
plies, for there is nothing more ifficult than
TO obtain re ally good varniSh brush, and I
VIII warrant there Is not "A coach painter who
possesses one who will willingly part with
oreVen lend il TO another.
Certainly the next thing in i'm oOrtance TO
obtaining good brush is to keep it Ia good
working order No doubt there are many
opinions as to the way this is best 10 he done
ara every painter, L suppose, adopts the
plan he thipkS the best-at all events, a .:
but since they cannot all be best. palpably
one pan mist be better than all the others
put together, for there is no medium, no
Dfakeshift plan in this; either the plan
adopted succeeds or fails, and to fail in any
respect is To fail altogether, because to fail at
ali means that the brush will not fulfill IT'S
duty properly. and that the work 10 i to be
used upon will, TO that extent, be spoiled.
As have sad, adopt the plan which l
believe To be the hest, aud for many years my
brush has served me faithfully: and. as /
would therefore recommend my plan o
others, VIII explain it, after which wills
give my reasons.
First, l have little locker of my own fxei
IN convenient position in my varni- h
room the key OF which always keep in ms
pocket. This locker is lined inside AMI COW
cred outside with fine holland, so that no
joints; and, To render this more secure, the
locker Is pain ted inside and out. Round /, G
door is prot cted with india ruobcr tubing =.
The locker is just big enough to contain my
VAR ish pots, my Japan tin aud two keepers
in each of which is a varnish brush and tool.
one set is my best or body brushes; the latter
OF which also u for jobbing purposes. And
mere would advise u painter never to use
his best body brush or tool on carriage work
for In the different parts of carriage work
there are so many crooks, cranks and cram
no 1.Ast
careful washing off previous to vanishing
Will still leave particles of pumice dust used
Ior the hating, tc be taken up by the brush.
for this purpose, made sufficiently deep to al
low the brushes TO be suspended In them with
out The hairs touching the bottom. Each
Keeper is covered with piece of panel board
made sufficiently large to well cover over the
Top, and In this cover two holes are cut to al
low the handles of the brush and tool To pro-
Jcct; through the handles of the brush and
tool hOle Is bored, and through the hole is
passed an iron skewer, each end of which
rests on the edges of the keeper, holding the
In my keeper put sufficient linseed oil to
cover the hairs OF the brushes up to the bind
Ing and no higher. Such is the plan adopt
Ior seeplpg my varnish brushes moist and In
Now, probably you desire to know why 1
prefer llnseed oil to yarniSh, or to oil and
protection and preservation OF my brushes.
The answer is this: First, / prefer IL to var
nish, because my brushes are not constantly
in use, but sometimes have to stand idle for
over week, perhaps longer, and varnish left
standing for SO long period, in a vessel that
is rot perfectly alright, would be liable to
skin over, so that when 1 wanted to use my
brushes should have to scrape and clean
them, and should not be able to DO this so
efeciually as to be absolutely certain that
no portion of the skin was left behind. S.
cond, prefer II TO a mixture of oil and turps,
because turps Is OF so searching and drying
nature that instead of keeping my brushes
nice and soft, should expect ii to draw all
the moisture out and leave them harsh and
brittle; moreover, you cannot wash turps out
OF brush with oil, although you can wash
Oil out with turpS; consequently, l should not
Know what TO do TO get my brush free my
turps before using il AID, if L used IL after 10
had been saturated with such a compound
Without cleansing 1t, l should expect to see
my panels, o. rather the varnish on them,
run streaky or cloudy, for the turps would
certainly work ont and produce that effect.
1t must not be supposed, however, that in
Keeping my brush in Oil it is absolutely so
Kept, because the varnlsh in which il is used
Is, in reality, the best thing TO keep il in and,
If used 1t sufficiently often to prevent the
varnish In my keeper from SHINING, should
certainly keep 1T in that; nothing, OF course,
could keep the brush in working order better
IMAM the varnish itself, lift were in anything
ike constant use. As sort of compromise
therefore, when L finish job, take my
prusn out OF the varnish pot, full as it is, aud
suspend 1T In that condition in my keeper.
by accepting this plan, L consider that the
surrounding oil In the keeper only serves to
hold the varnish in the brush, and thus keep
II In good working order. This plan also pre-
vents the brush absorbing the Oil to any
great extent, while 1t benefits from its nu-
tritious qualities, being kept soft and plant,
with the varnish within IL almost In the same
cond ton as when actually I'm use. 1t must
be borne In mind, however, that although oil
is not SO Objectionable as turps, IL is highly
desirable that no foreign matter OF any Kind
snouid be in the varnish brush when In use.
II on were to Ioze out OF 1t in small particles
whlie In use, should expect to see the result
ia pltting, running, blotching or some other
opJecti0nable form. 1t is, therefore, essen
tlal before using the brush--when kept In oil
IN the manner described-tos crape 1t well on
tne Side OF the keeper, in order 10 cleanse IL
thoroughly; and, before beginning to work, To
ulp the brush into the varnish pot several
lines, scrape 1t on the side, and work 10 we'll
round, SO as to Incorporate what slight par
ucles may remain In 1t with the varnish.
III this system be adopted, will warrant
tnat the brush will be as true as steel 10 the
painter; and whatever fantastic tricks he
may be played In the process of vanishing,
me varnish may be wrong, the under coats OF
color may be wrong, the atmosphere may be
wrong, the temperature of the vanishing
room may be wrong, but the brush with
Hnich the work is done will stand I'VE i'm