Badger-Hair Flowing Brush.
Brushes used daily upon clean surfaces are, or should be, clean, and rinsing in turpentine can do no harm to a clean brush. But in the case of brushes used every two or three days or occasionally, different treatment is needed. Such brushes are liable to be used upon surfaces and amid surroundings less cleanly than those which obtain in the fine factory or custom shop, and the rinsing in turps, consequent upon preserving them in oil, would merely serve to loosen and set in motion the dirt and flocculent matter gradually collected and forced up into the body of the tools. For this reason it were better to keep them in finishing varnish or, preferably, brush keeping varnish, i. e., varnish minus its driers. Whatever the preservative, the brushes require the most watchful attention. If kept in finishing varnish, the liquid should be changed frequently. So delicate a tool, of which so much is expected, makes imperative the observance of gentle, cleanly treatment. Varnish brushes ought never to be left lying around for any considerable length of time when not in use. Dust is never idle, but always moving and, like the dew of the evening, it falleth upon the just and the unjust, varnish brushes included. Have a stiff, partly-worn brush to clean the handles of varnish brushes. Wiping them with cloth distributes lint.
Spoke Brush.
Chiseled Fitch Tool.
In [Fig. 1] is shown a double compartment brush keeper. It can be made of tin or zinc and is not expensive. Attach lock and key to it, and the brushes conditioned to a peerless trim are secure. Make the keeper 8 in. long, 5 in. wide, 9 in. deep; outfit with spring fasteners, run wires through 3 in. from top, and 3/4 in. from bottom of the can locate a rack made of small wires criss-crossed on a light wire frame. The dirt which collects in the keeper goes to the bottom beneath the gauze rack, and should a brush fall into the preserving liquid it is held aloof from the dirt accumulations. These are regulation brush keepers, clean, durable, and cost in the neighborhood of $1. [Fig. 2] represents the famous thirty-cent brush keeper, several times illustrated but still deserving a place here. It is claimed to be made upon scientific principles, namely, the break between the body of the keeper and its lid or cover occurs at the bottom and below the point of brush suspension, instead, as in the ordinary keeper, at the top and above the point of suspension. It can be made of any size to meet individual needs. Such a can affords a splendid keeper for camel's-hair color brushes and for color-and-varnish brushes. [Fig. 3] displays what has been somewhat widely heralded as the western idea of a brush keeper, although the gentleman who first published a cut of the keeper and who, I believe, was the inventor of it, has seldom, if ever, been given credit for his ingenuity. My veteran brother of the brush, Mr. V. B. Grinnell, is deserving of the thanks of the trade for his invention. It consists of an ordinary glass fruit can (a metal top with rubber attachment is best), in which is located a tin cup, having a heavy wire soldered to it and projecting up to near the top of the can. This allows the cup to be easily removed from the top of the can. A second wire is soldered onto the first one so that it projects out horizontally over the cup, allowing for the suspension of the brushes in the liquid contained in the cup. The illustration shows how the keeper is made completely. Two or three brushes may be kept in each can, and they may be kept air-tight, too, a matter of moment to the vehicle painter.
Pear Flowing Varnish Brush.
The vehicle painter's brush equipment should consist of a good assortment of round or oval bristle brushes for putting on priming, lead, and roughstuff. For the best grade of carriage painting, the chiseled brush is advised for the priming and lead coats. In size they should run about 4.0. For working upon large surfaces, however, larger brushes will be needed, hence any exact size cannot be advised to meet all cases. Spoke brushes, dusters in plenty, flat chiseled bristle paint brushes, extra thick camel's-hair color brushes, varying in size from 1 in. to 3 in., camel's-hair flowing brushes, 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 in. in size, for applying color-and-varnish of some kinds, chiseled badger hair brushes, double thick, 1 in. to 2 in. for varnishing gears, oval chiseled sash tools for cleaning up surfaces and painting when needed certain parts of a vehicle, chiseled fitch tools for cleaning up panels, and lastly not less than four sets of varnish brushes for varnishing vehicle body surfaces, along with some oval or round chiseled varnish brushes required especially in wagon painting.