CHAPTER XXIX
BRUSHING UP ON BRUSHES
Household work is drudgery unless it is put on as nice (I say “nice” advisedly in its purest sense) a plane as any other craft. The best way of doing this is to have tools that are adapted to the different kinds of work--and furthermore, and quite as important, tools you are proud of, proud enough to keep well and advantageously.
The carpenter does not use one kind of tool for everything--he does not use a chisel where a plane could be used not only to better the job but for his own comfort or pleasure. The same thing can be said of the painter, who would not use a whitewash brush for a varnish job. But the housekeeper seems to think it part of her duty, somehow, to use a one-for-all tool, and then wonder why her work is irksome and her job ill done. It is very often difficult to get a maid to use the proper brush, but you will find, if you do your own work, that you will simplify it by using the right brush at the right time. The long handled type for long distance work, the short for local jobs, soft ones for delicate and so on. This careful work too will preserve the finishes of various things which must needs be brushed and save the cost of renewing paints and varnishes.
Brush work in the home is the most pregnable of citadels, but one that can be easily fortified against calumnies by a little attention to what a brush is, does, and can be.
Of course, a brush is meant to brush. The two main classes of brushes in which you are interested are the household and personal. Of these two we will discuss the household and just touch in passing the personal brush (such as nail brush, clothes, etc.), and will not enter into the paint-brush story even though the paint-brush is in household use on a surprising number of occasions.
Bristles and fibers and hair are the brush of the brush. The finest brushes are of bristle and hair and the less fine are of fiber save where bristle would not function any better for the job than fiber. Hair is used in some brushes where fine work and delicate surfaces are involved. For example, the shaving brush is of hair, the silver brush of bristle, the whisk of fiber. A room wall brush, too, is often of hair to save the paper or wall finish.
Bristles come from the hog’s (or boar’s) back, and the colder the country in which this quadruped roams the longer and tougher the bristle. Therefore, the Siberian bristle has always been the toughest--and the Chinese have come a close second. We get bristles, too, from France and Belgium. The bristles from the United States are not tough, as we kill the hog too soon--for bacon. However, for a soft brush these bristles are very fine. Japan imports bristles and so did Austria before 1914.
The resilient, springy quality in the bristle cannot be duplicated in any other brush material. Due to-day to the disorganized trade conditions, with Europe and Asia, the bristle brush is almost a luxury.
The American brush has been conceded to be as fine as the European or magically “imported” brush, as there is not any place to-day where the home is being studied by the brush makers as it is being done in America.
Bristles don’t break if bent--and the longer the bristle, the stiffer and stouter is the butt end by which it is securely fastened. Therefore all hail the wild old hog!
Horsehair, badger, camel’s hair, etc., are ideal materials for some brushes. Many household brushes are made of horsehair, shaving brushes of badger, and the artist’s brush is made of camel’s hair when it can be had. Hearth brushes are sometimes made of the mane hair of the horse, wall brushes, too; sometimes goat hair is used. Among other brushes made of horsehair frequently are the crumb (table), pastry, bottle and dish washing (white hair). The very best white horsehair comes from the Russian pony and is very nearly as stiff as bristles. The black horsehair of the finest grade is also imported, as the domestic is not as good. Other horsehair comes from China, Australia, South America.
FIBER OR BRISTLE
When you buy a brush, if you don’t know a fiber from a bristle, ask your dealer. He may say: “No this is not bristle, it is made of Bass” (or Bassine, Kitool, Palmyra or Palmetto or Rice Root, or Mixed Fibers, or Union, or Union Marble, etc.). If he is a good dealer you need not fear, if his price is not very low you need not be suspicious, because no good brush is inexpensive to-day and no cheap brush is a saving.
Of all the fibers Tampico (from Mexico, Central America largely), the product of a species of cactus plant, is probably the best fiber. Palmyra, too, is an excellent fiber, and comes from a plant indigenous to regions near the Indian Ocean and the Valley of the Tigris. What geographical scope we have in our homes!
There are trade names for fibers such as Ox fiber, a fine quality of fiber from the cabbage palmetto, and many other trade named fibers which must be procured by ye purchasers only from purveyors of royal lineage.
Brushes are made of mixtures of bristle and hair, such as some flesh brushes or hand brushes, the bristles taking the brunt of the action and holding the water better, yet protecting the hair. Fiber and bristles are sometimes used in combination, too.
If you buy an “all bristle” brush you don’t want a mongrel variety. If it is a mixture you are getting a usable and amply priced brush.
Black bristle is often made into pipe, window, stove, wall, radiator, milk bottle and percolator brushes.
The color, black or white, of bristles doesn’t stamp quality. In some cases black bristles are bleached for esthetic reasons. For example, a white tooth brush is more attractive. The natural white bristle usually comes from China and the natural black from Siberia.
Fibers in browns and whites, blacks and whites are mixed in brushes for appearances. Color in brushes is a matter of attractiveness and does not alter the usefulness or the wear of them.
The number and variety of brushes on the market are tremendous--one firm makes sixty-nine ordinary household brushes, and besides this has others tucked away, to say nothing of the personal, industrial and professional classes of brushes. Thousands is not an exaggerated figure to apply to the variety of brushes for all uses on the market to-day.
Another firm shows twenty-nine different kinds of scrubbing brushes (all of fiber--Palmyra, Rice-Root, White Tampico, Ox Fiber, Palmetto, etc., etc.) of varying shapes, sizes and color. The object being in every case for the purchaser to buy the brush that fits the hand and the job.
BRUSHES MUST BRUSH ONLY
Brushes, like any other implement, should do their own jobs only and nothing else. A brush that gouges and does a chisel’s work is a poor brush, no matter what quality the fiber or brush mark. The brush you buy for your wall or your hardwood floor must not scratch, and must have nothing in its construction that can scratch. Likewise, the brush you buy for your toilet bowl must not scratch or wear the enamel and the bristles must be bristles, for if of fiber you will have your brush
## acting like a blotter. Your brush must clean and brush, it must not
become a bacteria nestling haven.
Brushes bought for the radiator can get under the piano and into small spaces, but they are still brushes and the more things they brush the better, of course. Furthermore, bristles in a stove brush should not be stiff enough to engrave designs on the nickel-work on the stove.
The same may be said for the pot-scouring brush. It (if made of fiber or bristle) must not chip enamel or aluminum by any part of its construction.
The brush that fits its works, saves time. For example, the brush that is meant for the toilet bowl should be shaped to fit the toilet trap. It should be so built that its wire will not rust; after it is shaken out it ought not to drip when hung up; the bristles should not mat or separate and should be so made as to bend to your will. If it is of fiber, this brush will mat and become of no avail in short order. Such a brush can be used as a bath-tub cleaning brush and will not break the back when functioning.
Baldness is the worst disease of bad brushes. Bristles and fiber must be stitched and anchored so as not to shed. The frosting brush would be a danger if a bristle were swallowed with a bite of cake. You probably know the agony of a clothes brush that sheds bristles. The backless twisted-in-wire brushes give brush area on all sides, and are so secured that the bristle is fixed indefinitely. The brush that is all brush, which has no emerging back to scratch, and which brushes at every angle, saves time and extra effort, too.
THE PROTEAN VEGETABLE BRUSH
One of the most useful brushes on the market is the vegetable brush. A little brush whose uses are many. If there are a few in a household they can be used for washing vegetables, scraping silk from corn, scrubbing poultry, scouring pots and pans, cleaning white shoes, sprinkling clothes, for they hold enough water, and scrubbing dishes.
For the kitchenette to-day the sink brush and dishwashing brush with their long handles are a boon for the housewife as she can keep her hands in condition by not getting them into hot water so constantly. These brushes have various other obvious uses besides.
Don’t use paper to grease pans or glaze cakes; use a pastry brush. Of course this brush must be made without glue or cement so that it can be frequently washed in scalding water and the bristles still be where they should be.
A brush small enough for the percolater tube is to be had. It is good for teapot spouts, gas burner holes, typewriter interstices, etc.
Among other brushes to which you may need introduction are:
_Wicker-Reed._ This gets in the tiny places so annoying to clean with mammoth tools.
_Refrigerator_ (or pipe brush). This is a fairy wand to keep off plumbers from your estate. Almost a pipe-dream in its general pipe-cleaning skill.
_Hearth Brush._ A good utilitarian tool for those owning not only a home but a hearth.
_Radiator._ Gets around a radiator as if it loved it. Can be used under a piano, etc. Good for chandeliers, under oven or gas stove, etc.
_Comb Cleaner._ The same brush company which makes the above backless, and twisted wire brushes has just put a little comb cleaning brush on the market. It is like a little lawn mower which travels over and through the comb teeth.
_Brush cleaner._ This new thing is intended to loosen the soil which attaches itself to brushes by scraping it off. It is made of bone entirely.
Remember there are hundreds of brushes and that they are designed for every kind of thing, and best of all, there are companies who exist just to fit you out with brushes and who will advise you just what kinds to get.
MOPS AND DUSTERS
Just a word or two about mops, which are more and more coming to be made of cotton which, though not technically absorbent cotton, does absorb the dust. They are not oily, but chemically treated and so will not hurt the rugs. They should be of wire construction, no parts exposed so as to scratch. They must be of strong, enduring cotton, reversible, washable, with an adjustable long handle, usable for ceiling, walls, doors, windows, pictures, baseboards and floors; good for corners. The handle should be at least long enough to obviate all back bending.
Of course there is a dish mop for washing cups, pitchers or dishes, and the light weight wet mop, with long handle, of washable, reversible, corner-hunting, absorbant cotton yarn.
The duster that dusts and does not smudge is what is needed. The one that can dust finger marks off polished surfaces, absorb the dust and can get into difficult places without breaking the back or--more important still--the heart. These and many other brushes are to be had for your comfort and for the asking--and paying.
Many times in the use of fiber brushes, whether for personal or household uses, it is wise to immerse them completely in water for one-half minute and set them aside to dry, resting on the fiber face of the brush instead of the wooden back or on one of the ends. Laying the brush flat down permits the entire surface to drain in the shortest possible time. The object of dipping the brush in water before use is to overcome a factory defect which is possible in some factories, for once the fibers of the brush are dipped in water, the water is drawn up into the hole by capillary attraction and rusts the staple which is of iron wire; and as this staple starts to rust, it forms a bond with the wood that makes the anchoring permanent. Should there be one or two loose tufts, they will be cured by the rusting process.
After using the brush, shake out the water and place it face downward or standing on the bristles so that it will drain and dry.
You are particularly interested in the manufacture of brushes, except to get what you pay for.
The handles of your brushes must be comfortable, smooth, long enough in some instances to save your back from pain and short or small enough to fit your hand. In all cases they must be firm and reliable. The handles are preferably not joined with a swivel joint, as this is apt to turn. The clamp is a better fastening.
In the best grade of household brush most of the handles are of wood or twisted wire, treated so as to be practically rustless.
The nail brush and tooth brushes, of course, are often of French ivory and the handle is so made as to allow no dirt to remain in the handle. Often, too, the bristles can be taken out to be cleaned or replaced. (The hair-brush is a story in itself.)
Brushes must be easily cleaned and cared for.
Brush racks can be bought or carpenters make them very simply.
Above all, you want a brush that brushes, whose bristles or fibers are anchored to stay, whose utility goes with years, not months, whose death depends not on use but abuse, and to whose employing you look forward with pleasure.
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