When you’re painting, the best time to clean your paintbrushes is immediately after you’re finished cleaning up. If you have a couple of paintbrushes that you’ve left off to the side that have dried and caked-on paint on them however, a little vinegar will bring them back to life.
Re-Nest points out that a good soak in vinegar to soften the bristles, and then bringing some vinegar to a boil while the brush bristles are soaking in it will loosen up the paint enough that you should be able to comb the paint off with your fingers when you remove the brush from the hot vinegar.
They also note that since you’re boiling the brush on potentially an open flame (if you have a gas range) take special care with oil-based paints, or only use this method for caked on water-based paints. How do you clean up your old paintbrushes when you don’t have turpentine sitting around? Share your tips in the comments.
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