Category: Maintenance and repairs

Accidents do happen and not all of them can be refocused as a “happy accident.” I forgot to do a thorough idiot check after I was done working last night. Now I have a swamp brush because I left it sitting in the rinse water all night and it is not pretty.

The paint on the handle is all cracked, the wood is swollen and bloated and the ferrule is loose and will no longer hold the bristles on the brush securely. Making swamp brushes should always be avoided just like setting any of your brushes on fire, obvious right? In the event that you have one on your hands you do not need to throw it away. It can be saved with a little work, and with a little luck it will still perform pretty well. Here is how:

1: Let the brush dry out completely.

2: Remove the cracked paint. I only remove what flakes off by hand but you can scrape it all if you want to.

3: If the ferrule comes easily off the handle I remove it but if it is just loose I leave it on.

4: Paint the brush handle. I personally use nail polish to do this because I always have a surplus of it. Then let it dry in a place where it won’t be disturbed.

5: Reattach the ferrule. I add a dab of super glue inside, then I use a pair of pliers to crimp it to the handle until it feels secure.

The brush at the top of this post is still drying. I will post a picture of it after its rehab in the comments.