Foam vs Bristle Brushes: Which Should You Use?

Foam vs Bristle Brushes: Which Should You Use?

Foam or bristle, and what each one is actually for

Most people pick a brush on price, which is fair enough when you're standing in front of a rack of them and they all look like they'd do the job, but foam and bristle put paint on the surface in genuinely different ways, and once you know what each one is doing you stop buying the wrong one. Nobody starts out knowing this. It's the sort of thing you learn by getting a streaky door and wondering what you did wrong.

What a foam applicator is good at

A foam brush lays down a very thin, very even film with no brush marks in it at all, and that's exactly what you want on a flat surface you're going to look at closely, so cabinet doors, shelf fronts, a small table or the trim on a piece of furniture are all jobs where foam earns its keep. It doesn't hold much paint, so you'll be going back to the tin constantly, and that's the trade you're making for the finish.

Two things will catch you out. Foam can push tiny air bubbles into the film if you work it too fast, so slow down and lay off in one direction rather than scrubbing. And strong solvents will chew through the foam on a cheap applicator, so if you're using anything with a solvent-based thinner, check what you've got before you start rather than halfway through.

What a bristle brush is good at

A bristle brush holds a lot more paint, gets into a corner, and cuts a straight line against a ceiling or an architrave in a way foam simply can't. That's why it's still the brush doing most of the work on most jobs. The bit that matters is what the bristles are made of, and this is the single most useful thing in this whole post.

Synthetic bristles, meaning nylon or polyester, are the ones for water-based paint. Natural bristle takes up water and goes soft on you partway through a wall, and then you're fighting the brush instead of painting with it. Natural bristle is at its best in oil-based enamels and varnishes, where it holds its shape and lays off beautifully. Get that one choice right and half the brush-mark problems people bring to the counter disappear on their own.

Angled or straight

An angled brush is for cutting in, because the point gives you a line you can steer, and a straight brush is for covering a face fast. If you only buy one bristle brush for the house, make it a 50mm angled one, since it'll cut a line and still cover a door in a reasonable time.

Looking after them is most of the value

A decent bristle brush will outlast a pile of cheap ones if you wash it out properly while the paint is still wet, work the soap right into the heel where the bristles meet the ferrule, and hang it up or lay it flat rather than standing it on its bristles in a jar. A foam applicator is the opposite, it's built to be used and binned, and there's no shame in that either.

Shop related products

Did you know we also stock Uni-Pro high density foam brushes in 25mm, 50mm and 75mm, along with natural bristle chip brushes, and they're not on the website, so give us a ring on (08) 8536 4333 to check what's on the shelf. Haymes and Taubmans are tinted to order in the shop from the range we stock, and paint is a dangerous good that can't be posted, so that part is always an in person job.

The rest of the gear is in paint and accessories, and the paint mixing page explains how the tinting side works.

Keep reading

If you're standing in the aisle holding one of each and still not sure, just ask us, because that's a 30 second conversation and a ruined door is a whole weekend.

Cheers,

Candeece

Candeece

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