Is there an easy way to wash oil paintbrushes?

I have been painting with oil for several years, and washing my brushes is always a lengthy task. I am usually not convinced that I do a good job at it anyway, and so I ruin my expensive brushes. Are there any tips on how it can be done faster and easier? Is there a ';magic'; soap or anything like that that I should know of? Any help is welcome.Is there an easy way to wash oil paintbrushes?
You can actually buy an oil brush cleaner from most places that sell oil paints. It looks like a glass jar with a coil that looks something like an electric stove coil at the bottom. You fill the jar with enough turpanoid (turpanoid is turpentine that smells less) to just cover the coils. When you're ready to clean your brushes you run them across the coil. The coil helps get the paint out of the brushes and the the turp helps disolve the paint. the paint will then settle to the bottom of the jar and the ';clean'; turp will be at the top where the coils are so that you can reuse the same turp for quite a while. Eventually you do have to clean out the grey sludge (paint) that builds up at the bottom.


After that I usually rinse them in water and use a bar of soap to get the turp out and any remaining paint, then Paper towels to dry them.


I'm affraid there isn't any ';magic'; soap, but if you rinse your brushes in the turp and run them along the coils as you paint rather than letting them sit out in the open, it shouldn't be too difficult to clean them out when you're done for the day.Is there an easy way to wash oil paintbrushes?
The key is to clean them as soon as you are done painting -- while they are still wet! Once they dry you will be in a world of hurt.





The best cleaning material is to use the ';base'; of the paint you are using. In the case of oil based paint, ';paint thinner'; or terpentine should work fine. If you are not sure what the base of the paint you are using is, go to the store you bought it from (or bring a can to Home Depot) and ask them what you should use to clean up after it.





This is not a hard problem to solve -- but remember -- clean the brushes as soon as you are done painting... not the next morning.
You can use either turpentine or mineral spirits. While either will work well, mineral spirits don't smell nearly as bad or make you light headed. If you store the mineral spirits in a mason jar, you can use the same fluid repeatedly. Just make sure to close the jar tightly!





Good luck