Heard a young guy at the hardware store say he'd never used a bristle brush

He was buying a foam roller for a table top and told the clerk he thought brushes were outdated. It took me back to my first year in my dad's shop in Boise, where we only used badger hair brushes for oil finishes. That careful, slow work taught me to read the grain. Do you think some of the old methods still have a place, or is it all about speed now?

2 comments

2 Comments

felix_coleman8714d ago

That "read the grain" part is the whole point. A foam roller just slops it on and you lose all that control.

oliver52314d agoMost Upvoted

Disagree on the control part. A good foam roller lets you adjust pressure easily, and you can still see the grain direction through the finish as you apply it. The trick is using a thin coat and not overloading the roller.