Sticky varnish brush even after washing!

[Marcus Lim]

Thanks for the tip guys!

[Anthony Emmolo]

Marcus, I use Damar Varnish and I experience the same problem that you described. The solution that I found works well. After thoroughly cleaning with turpentine, I wash quickly with a regular bar of hand soap. Then, I immediately was a few times with brush soap. The hand soap is stronger than brush soap and will get rid of the stickiness. By immediately washing a few times with brush soap after using hand soap, you'll protect your brushes from the strength of the hand soap, which will dry out the brush in time if you don't rewash with the brush soap. I've been doing this, and my brushes are fine.

Anthony

[Marcus Lim]

Thanks for the tip Anthony...i just realized that hand soaps are great for brushes in all situations.

[Anthony Emmolo]

Marcus,

I would really be careful using hand soaps on brushes. I ONLY use them for varnish removal, and then quickly use brush soap to remove the remaining hand soap from the brush. Hand soap will quickly damage a brush. In addition, when I was younger I thought baby shampoo would be good. My assumption was that it was gentle enough for a baby's hair, it couldn't hurt a brush. However, within days it had destroyed my brushes.

Anthony