Brushie Brushie

So I got this paint brush back when I moved, in order to do some (ok, a lot) of touch up to the paint; particularly the trim. I didn't exactly treat it terribly well, often using it to mash paint into tight spaces or grind it into details on moldings, and it shows. I did keep it clean at least, but the fuzziness has become a bit of an impediment to its regular use.

I could have just thrown this out and got a new one, but I came across a tip that you can reshape brushes that have fluffed out like this by dipping them in boiling water and using a wire brush to comb them straight. I figured that was slightly less effort than throwing it in the trash, so here we go.

Now I should preface this next image by saying that paint brushes always look fantastic when they're wet, so this immediate result wasn't anything I was expecting to stick around after things dried out, but it was at least a good start.

So after letting the brush sit for a few weeks to get good and dry, what it actually looks like is this.

And I'd say that's a solid improvement. Maybe not quite fresh-and-new-out-of-the-box but definitely more usable than it was before I gave it a dip in the hot springs.

I even gave the brush a little bit of a shake to make sure the bristles weren't just stuck to each other or something, and it's still looking good. I think once I dip this in some paint again, it should stick together in a nice brush shape instead of the tip splitting and stray cow-licks poking out all over.

Now I also tried this technique on a natural bristle artist brush that had got a bit of a curl in the bristles, and it didn't do a damn thing to it, so I think this trick is strictly for synthetic brushes. Maybe there's another trick out there for dealing with unruly natural bristle brushes, I dunno. In the meantime, I'll enjoy my much more usable synthetic brushes.