Hello everyone.
Posting once again on the painting forum. I'm going to buy some Winsor & Newton Series 7 Kolinsky Standard brushes in size 000, 00, 0, 1 to paint chips on tanks, figure painting such as faces and german camouflage. My question is, do Newtons series 7 SABLE brushes last long when used with oils? I'll buy their brush cleaner to help clean them, but would the sable handle turps? I'll use white spirits.
The brushes will be used with oil paints when painting chips. But when figure painting, i'll use vallejo paints. Will the brushes keep their sharpe tips for atleast a year when switching paints?
Thanks
Callum.

If you rinse your brushes in boiling vinegar, you should be able to keep them looking new. This was advice my grandmother gave me and she has been doing oils, acrylics, and dolls for 50 years. Just clean them as best you can and let them soak for a little while in the vinegar.

Hi matt,
Thanks for the advice. Never heard of soaking them in vinegar. I'll give it a try and see how it goes.
Callum

That sounds pretty slick, I'll have to give it a try myself

Series 7 brushes used for oils and acrylics, well cared for, can last you 10-15 years and keep their shape, and hold a point.

I've been using the W&N Series 7 brushes for years, and I have some that are at least 15 years old that I still paint with.

I use a three-step process to clean them:

1) Rinse them well in thinners (I use mineral spirits for oils and enamels).

2) Clean them using W&N Brush Cleaner and Restorer. Pay attention to the area where the bristles enter the ferrule to remove all (or as much as possible) of the pigments that can build-up and cause the bristles to "splay out."

3) Finally, I use "The Masters" brush cleaner and restorer. This is a product that is like a semi-solid hair conditioner in a shoe polish can. Work up a little lather in the brush, then form the bristles in to a point leaving some of the lather in them, and store the brush bristles pointing up.

(FWIW, I have heard that ordinary hair conditioner - like you use in the shower - will work as well as The Masters conditioner.)

Before I use my brushes, I give them a quick rinse in clean thinners to remove The Masters conditioner and to load the bristles in the ferrule with thinners. This last bit helps to keep the paint from running so far up into the ferrule that it's hard to clean later.

The sable brushes will have no issues with artist turps or mineral spirits used as thinners.

I will add that these brights and rounds are not the best for painting with acrylics, though. What I use for acrylics are sable liner brushes. These have much longer bristles than brights or rounds and so they hold more paint and the thinned acrylics will "flow" from them better. (Brushes used for acrylics require frequent cleaning during a painting session, as well, to keep the acrylic paint from drying in the tips and interfering with the flow of the paint.)

I care for my sable liners the same way, and I have a couple of those that I know are more then 20 years old that I still paint regularly with.

Good brushe are an investment that will last a long time if cared for.

Finally, though, no brush will last forever. It can almost be an emotional event to have to relegate an old favorite to the back of the brush jar, but when the bristles get "bunged," start to "hook" on the ends, or get "splayed out" (and a good cleaning and re-conditioning won't get them back), then you have to be willing to cut loose and break in a new brush.

Sad, but such is the life of a paint brush...

Enjoy your W&N Series 7 brushes, though, they are a joy to use.

HTH,

Hi mike,
Thanks for the excellent advice. Will do