Don’t you hate when your painting brushes dry up and harden? This makes them harder to clean. But don’t worry. In this article, I will show you the best ways to clean your oil painting brushes.

HOW DO YOU  CLEAN OIL PAINTING BRUSHES?

I am going to show you how to clean your oil paint brushes at home. Usually, when you don’t clean oil paint brushes they get hard. When this happens they became difficult to clean and paint with. An incredible way to clean oil paint brushes is to use paint thinner. You can get a bottle of paint thinner at your local store such as Walmart.

A paint thinner is a solvent used to thin oil-based paints or clean up after their use. Commercially, solvents labeled “paint thinner” are usually mineral spirits having a flashpoint at about 40 °C, the same as some popular brands of charcoal starters.-Wikipedia

Get a small container filled halfway up with the paint thinner then dip the paintbrush into it, then swish it around for 30 secs in the paint thinner. Then after that get a paint comb and comb through the brush. After that swish the paintbrush into a different container filled with paint thinner for 30 seconds again. Now get a different small container filled with warm water and squeeze a few drops of dish soap into it. Then swish the oil paintbrush into the water. After doing that just let the paintbrush dry.

What I mentioned above is the best way to clean oil painting brushes with a paint thinner. Now I am going to show you some ways you can clean oil paint off brushes without a paint thinner.

Cleaning oil paintbrushes doesn’t only require a paint thinner, you can also use vinegar and vegetable oil. You can even clean them with linseed oil as well.

WHAT TO CLEAN OIL PAINT BRUSHES WITH?

There are several products you can use to clean oil paint brushes with and I will show you how to clean your paintbrushes with each of these products. These products are vegetable oil, vinegar, water, paint thinner & mineral spirits

Cleaning oil paint brushes with vegetable oil

You might be wondering “how can you possibly clean oil paint brushes with vegetable oil?” Well, you’ll be surprised.

What you need to do is dip the oil painting brush into a small container of vegetable oil and use your finger or a paint comb to separate the brush bristles. After doing this dip the brush into a small container filled with warm water and swish the brush in it until the paintbrush isn’t oily anymore. Then hang your paintbrush to dry.

After doing that the dry paint that was on your paintbrush should be gone and now your paintbrush can be used for painting again.

Cleaning oil paint brushes with vinegar

Get a small container and fill it halfway up with vinegar. Then soak the oil painting brush inside the vinegar for an hour. After that just comb out the bristles with a paint comb, doing that just hang the paintbrush so it can dry. Doing this will definitely get rid of the dried paint from your paintbrushes.

Can you clean oil paint brushes with just water?

Well not really you can’t really clean them with just water. You need to clean them with other things like I mentioned above. And what I am about to mention soon.

How to clean oil paint brushes with mineral spirits

Cleaning oil paint brushes with mineral spirits is something that has been a lot of times. Most people think that a paint thinner is the best way to remove oil-based paint from paintbrushes but that is not true. Mineral spirits are as or more effective than using a paint thinner. So I am going to tell you how to clean your oil paint brushes with mineral spirits. The best way to clean oil paint brushes with mineral spirits is to get a small container and fill it up with mineral spirits then swish the oil paintbrush in it and let it sit in the container for about 7 -10 minutes. After that just hang the brush, or place it on a dry cloth so it can dry.

HOW TO CLEAN OIL-BASED PAINT OFF BRUSHES

Throughout this article, I showed you ways on how to clean your oil painting brushes, but now I will show you how to remove oil-based paint from your paintbrushes.  Most of the things I mentioned above were how to just remove dried-up paint from your paintbrushes but now I will show you how to remove oil-based paint from a paintbrush you just used. Removing oil-based paint off your paintbrushes is kind of similar to just cleaning them. All you have to do is get a bottle of paint thinner or mineral spirits and pour it into a small container, then place the paintbrush in the container. Then swish it around for 1 minute. After that just get a separate container filled with water, and swish the paintbrush inside the water for around 35 secs. Now use a paint comb and run it through the bristles of the paintbrush, then place the brush inside another container filled with paint thinner or mineral spirits. After doing all of that you should let the brush dry by placing it on a large cloth or by hanging it.

I hoped this article helped show you how to clean your oil painting brushes.