We have a job coming up that we need to replicate the look of "old white painted stuff that was stripped and clearcoated"

Part of that process will involve using a 2-4" wide brush with white conversion varnish applied to the face, in THIN streaky brush strokes. Somewhat to replicate paint "in the grain".

I can do this easily with common chip brushes but they donate their bristles too easily to the substrate.

Since these brushes will quickly foul up from dried material, I'm looking for what you folks suggest for affordable disposable brushes that won't lose it's bristles into the paint.

Basic process will be the brush on the light coat of white over "most" of the wood surface. Scuff gently and topcoat with 3 coats of clear (sprayed as usual).

Thoughts?

Hi Matt, sounds like an interesting project. Have you considered a rubber graining comb for the application?
Can you post some photos of the look your after?

You might consider a metal graining comb.

I did think of a graining tool and it's on my short list of other things to try, but I'm not sure I can get a graining tool properly into the profiles (this job has a huge amount of profiles, carvings, etc) and we'll end up needing to do at least some brushing.

However, since you guys are suggesting it, I'll pick one up and try.

Rick, I haven't used the metal graining combs but those do look useful. Thanks for suggesting it. I just looked them up and like what I see.

I would do it with the primer myself. Thin it out and use lots of retarder. Brush it on quick and have a pot of retarder to dip the brush in occasionally to clean it out.

You can keep brushing until you get the desired texture, keeping it a bit rougher than you'd like the finish product to be. Then you can spray coat the topcoat.

Good idea Leo.

Can anyone recommend a brush? I really like the coarse texture of the wood handled chip brush throw-aways but I'm hoping to find something that wont' tear apart so fast but also isn't $15 each.

I was using a Rembrandt 2 1/2" sash brush which has PBT Filaments for bristles. Some kind of synthetic. It did very well with the 2K poly I was slathering into Oak to try to grain fill more effectively.

Don't remember how much it was, under $20 I think. But I've cleaned it up many many times and it's still in good condition.

Just remember to clean while using so the CV doesn't get packed into the bristles.

You get what you pay for. And those disposable brushes are worth exactly what you pay for them.

are you concerned about total thickness?
3 coats and the white?

Yes, you should always be concerned about thickness with conversion varnish.

The three coats of clear we spray will be thinned enough to avoid exceeding the maximum dry mil, which I believe to be 4-5 mil on our product.

Maybe try putting thin CA glue in the heel of the brush. I do this with cheep acid brushes for glue and it keeps most of the bristles intact. Add a second coat for safety on a finish job like yours.

I suggested a rubber comb for a couple of reasons. They have a chiseled tip. They come in a variety of grain sizes and can be used on round or irregular surfaces. You can easily slit each comb to create finer brush marks. They wont scratch a finish. The rubber ones are easy to manipulate to achieve various looks.

Mike, funny you should say that. In experimenting, I found that the chip brushes work a lot better if you actually DO cake them up with some dried conversion varnish. They don't dump bristles as much. The CA glue would be a great way to hit the ground running.

Robert, I'm going to order some of these graining brushes, even if we don't use them on this job, I think they could be a really useful tool for some other stuff we do.