What Is It?
The paint brush is the most critical weapon in the arsenal of tools for a professional finish. Making and replicating a sharp line is the end goal with any interior project. People will gladly spend $20 per door pull for their kitchen cabinets, but will balk at a $15 – 20 dollar brush. At the end they hold in their hand a brush I wouldn’t paint my chicken coop with. Worst of all, the uniformed person may read other blogs written by people who may have only painted a kitchen wall once. Lets not be haters though, ignorance is not stupidity and lets stay on track. All interior paints are latex based these days. For that reason, a nylon polyester bristle blend is gonna be our best current option. Other things to consider are the major 3 Esses of the brush.
This Is the main brush one will ever need: The 2 inch Wooster angle sash
The 3 Esses of Paint Brushes
- Size
- Sash Angle
- Stiffness
Size
For size I recommend the 2 inch variety. For a novice and pro alike I believe the versatility of a 2 inch is optimal, its not to big and not to small. I have seen a lot of old school guys use 2 1/2 inch brushes which dumb big compared to a 2 inch. The 3 inch version is something I would only use to maybe paint a deck, or brush in wood siding. A 2 inch brush isn’t to heavy to hold and isn’t to bulky to operate. Yeah I have heard and seen people argue that “gotta put the paint on” and “that little thing would take forever”. This is only 1/2 of an inch we are talking about, yeah things get deep out in the pro world.
Sash Angle
Brushes come in either a straight or angle sash for our application. I have used both, but prefer an angle for holding of paint and ability to cut or edge inside top/bottom corners. However when painting baseboard to wall I do prefer a straight sash brush but only for very finite non important reasons for most do it yourself applications. I am not here to tell you to buy two different brushes for two different same room applications. For that reason we will choose the angle sash.
Stiffness
Finally stiffness comes to the forefront. I prefer a firm feeling brush for the aspect of control, amount of paint application and response in hand. A soft bristle brush is definitely better for the paint, but you may have a smashing of the bristles type feeling in your hand. A super stiff brush will cause a flipping of the brush causing unwanted splatters on ceiling or floor if you are not super cautious of maintaining contact of the brush to wall. Also a Super stiff brush also will “pull” paint off the wall when applying.