How to Remove Old Paint From Brushes

Remove old paint from brushes with the right materials.

It's easier to clean a paintbrush immediately after it has been used, but if a brush wasn't cleaned right away and paint has dried on its bristles, the old paint can be removed. Good paintbrushes are expensive, making it cheaper to clean an old brush than to buy a new one. Both water-based and oil-based paints can be removed from paintbrushes, if you know which cleaning agents and tools work best.

Things You'll Need

• 1 quart paint thinner
• 1-gallon, wide-mouth glass jar with lid
• Wire-bristle brush
• Mild dish washing soap

Instructions

1. Pour paint thinner into a 1-gallon, wide-mouth glass jar until the liquid will cover the bristles on the brushes.

2. Submerge the brushes, bristles-down, into the paint thinner.

3. Screw the lid onto the glass jar and let the brushes soak in the solution for 24 hours.

4. Remove the lid and slosh the paintbrushes up and down in the paint thinner until the solvent is clouded by dissolved paint.

5. Hold the brushes over a rail with their bristles overhanging the side. Run a wire brush through the bristles, always away from the handles.

6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until all paint is removed.

7. Rinse the bristles with clean paint thinner if removing oil-based paint or warm, soapy water if removing water-based paint.

Tips & Warnings

• Wear eye goggles and a solvent-approved respirator when working with paint thinner.

• Paint-thinner is toxic; dispose of properly.