"Are You a Paintbrush Hoarder?" Topic

Do you have a giant collection of paintbrushes? Do you never throw one out because it might be used for applying glue or drybrushing someday?

I buy a few at a time and retire the old ones to terrain or glue work. They usually don't last long in that role and get thrown out.

Yes

Yes. They have to be solid as rock before I trash them, and usually not even then.

No. I have the perfect drybrush brushes already (cheap Crayola brand). Once I loose a point, away they go. They last a lot longer since I discovered brush soap though.

Errrr….
Yes.
I can't bear to throw a bad one away. There is always the excuse that it would be fine for dry brushing eyeballs.

When they become useless out they go. I have enough stuff cluttering my workspace.

Nope. I go through them at a pretty decent clip – 6 or 8 a year.

Yes

Yes, but I do eventually toss them. My painting desk is a mess and I can't keep everything forever.

Yes.

Not really a hoarder more of a 'buy more brushes than I can ever use' type

No. What's the point? What can you do with a dead paintbrush?

Yes…my collection of crappy used brushes too much, I throw them away only when the bristles are a solid chunk

What is this…"throw out"?

Yes

Yes, brushes get downgraded to rough jobs, then glue, then go in the bin when there are no hairs left.

No

x42

Not a hoarder. I have a few paintbrushes that are past their prime. I tend to cut and shave them down to turn them into tools that are useful for other purposes. Eventually, when there is no more useful capability in them, they become terrain components … or rarely, trash.

Yes. I even have a Few that are still unused because I don't want to ruin them. Silly I know. But yes, I have a lot of left ov er paint brushes. My oldest is from 1988.

Mostly I keep them and then sometimes I toss them. They don't take up that much room.

You're allowed to throw away brushes???

No. One for each job. I have been told that many of my brushes look like those an orc would use to paint his miniatures. And I never have "backup brushes"; when one becomes truly unserviceable, I break them in half (its somewhat traditional), and throw it away, and will go out and get another next opportunity.

My brush jar is too full of other tools to accommodate useless brushes.

Yes, I probably hang onto them long after they should be retired.

No. Once they are no longer useful for any sort of application I chuck them but I do have some pretty tatty ones still in use.

once the bristles are gone/completely useless, does no one use the handles for other purposes?

Yes. Part of the paring down I mentioned is to make styluses for painting. Not every brush makes a good stylus (grip and material are the prime drivers), and some go directly to the terrain bits box.

Inadvertently. I have lots of them get "lost" around the house and turn up (sometimes years) later… ;-)

Eventually mine have become pointy sticks for stippling clay etc.

I have a dedicated glue brush I use for bases, have had it for YEARS, almost a decade now.

But all the other brushes, yes I tend to hoard until I have around 20 in my cup, then I do a purge.

Even when I purge, I keep some of the old ones because "that particular curl" comes in handy for things that a straight brush cannot reach, or some brushes get downgraded to drybrush only.

Use them until they can no longer function as something…

It is a good sized collection, extremely varied in terms of age, condition and type. With the careful use of alcohol, and regular use of brush soap the can remain useful in some manner for years. After which the handles are used for other things.

Yes

Yes, but planning to thin out the collection, because too many of them don't get used anyway.

Hell Yes!

Tony

Yes