Rant: An old timer told me my brush was too clean and he was right

I was sweeping a house last month in Denver and this retired sweep, probably in his 70s, watched me hook up my new poly brush. He laughed and said my brush looked like it just came out of the box and I was missing half the soot. I thought he was crazy because a clean brush works better, right? Well he showed me how his old wire brush had this layer of buildup that actually scraped the creosote more aggressively. I switched to a slightly worn brush with some crust on it and I swear I got twice the debris out of the next flue. Now I keep a dedicated brush that I never wash just for heavy jobs. Has anyone else noticed a difference between a shiny new head versus one that's broken in?

3 comments

3 Comments

margaret_jackson7320d ago

Nah a clean brush grabs better if you're using the right technique and not just mashing it in there.

johnson.jesse20d ago

Right, because everyone's out there with perfect technique like a pro painter. I dunno, feels like sometimes people just want to act like it's some big science experiment when really we're just trying to get the wall coated.

dianas5011d ago

Exactly, @margaret_jackson73, it's just paint on a wall, not brain surgery. I'm all for a clean brush, but some folks act like you're ruining the whole job if you don't have some museum-level technique down.