My New Favorite Paintbrush Quality Select By Joan Young on Oct 22, 2008 - Updated Oct 15, 2011

This week I'm very happy with the Home Depot Quality Select Paintbrush. Last week I was in love with a different brand, but this one flows more smoothly and has lasted a little better with heavy use. The Do-It Best Brush gave up the fight after about a week.

These brushes are mid-range in price. The 1" brush was $6.27, and the 3" one was $10.97. They come in additional widths with varying prices.

The bristles are synthetic, but they are quite fine which allows for a smooth flow of paint. There is also a high bristle count so that the bristles don't separate into layers (until it nears the end of its life). The bristles are firmly fastened into the ferrule; I haven't had a bristle come loose yet.

I've been actually painting with one of these brushes for approximately six hours a day for over a week (figuring about two hours a day for cleaning, surface repairs, etc). Today it finally became too obnoxious to continue to use. Despite my best efforts at cleaning, the paint buildup near the ferrule made the bristles spread and separate too much. Given that I've really been abusing this brush, I'd say it has done quite well. I'm painting lots of old, nasty surfaces where you have to jam the brush into odd corners, which is not so great for the brush!

I wish that the angle of the bristle cut was a little stronger, but that's not too serious of a problem. Also, the handles are long. I had to cut one off shorter to paint some fixed shelving.

The package says that it is good for all types of paint. I've only used it with latex- primer, ceiling, flat interior, and semi-gloss enamel. I've been happy with it for all of those.

Tomorrow morning my first stop is to buy some new brushes, and these are the ones I'm going to buy.