The Brush

 The Thrifty Rocketeer Blog continues...

It's been a couple of years that I've been sealing my balsa fins with a slurry of wood glue.

But recently, I tried a Sanding Sealer from an area supplier, just to experiment. It turns out that it is Min-Wax that has been repackaged in much smaller quantities. I don't need a quart, but 3  liquid ounces in a small jar is fine for my purposes.

However, I had never expected the difficulty in selecting a small brush to apply the stuff...glue or sealant.

Initially, I decided a small child's paintbrush would be good, but I haven't had any kids in the house for years now.  So I drove to a Dollar General and picked up a kid's combination coloring book, paint set and brush combo.  As I walked out, I pulled out the brush from the packaging, pocketed it, and then turned to a family who were leaving. "You want a coloring book for water colors," I asked?   They looked at me suspiciously at first, but I admitted that I only wanted it for the brush, which I was keeping.  I held it out to the kid, and he looked to his mom before taking it.  "I have a craft project that needs a small brush, so I picked this up, just for that.  Enjoy it when you get home."  They left happy. 

After a couple of rockets, I either misplaced that brush, or my wife "cleaned up after me"... and I was left with hunting up another brush.   This time, I went to HL and spotted a 3 pack of short, stubby craft brushes in a blister-pack.... overpriced for about $2, but it was what I wanted. I bought it.

The brushes were only 4 inches long, black plastic handle, with short nylon bristles.  It was just the right size for my sealant application, and I used it to flow that Min-Wax onto a sanded fin. It worked fine.

But I was very careful to rinse the brush out immediately after using it, and setting it on the window ledge above the kitchen sink to dry.... right next to my other older kid's paint brush. 

 I hadn't lost it after all.

True to form, I left both to dry on that out-of-the-way ledge, and forgot about them.  Until today.

I decided to try to clean up after applying some waterslide decals late last night, and in so doing, I grabbed both generations of brushes off the window sill and fanned their bristles with my thumbnail.  The original brush bristles fanned out and separated just fine.  However, the short black nylon bristles did not.  They snapped right off cleanly where they entered the handle.  I was surprised.

Apparently the plastic had reacted with the fluid, and not only fused them together, but also weakened the bristles so that they wouldn't flex at all.  They sheared off.  Oh well, they were disposable brushes packaged for a kids' craft project or something. Not much invested.

I did have another brush adventure recently.

Since I was sealing some balsa fins during my lunch hour at work, I noticed that I had forgotten my kid's brush again.  I was hung up without it, and would miss my schedule to complete the kit before the coming weekend's launch.  So I took a gamble.

I asked my coworkers if any of them had a small make-up brush I could borrow and destroy.  Most said No, but one offered me their blush brush... a large silky puff that must have cost over ten bucks.   I KNEW my use was going to ruin it so I declined the offer, but suggested something somewhat smaller, like a mascara brush or similar to a kid's paint brush.

To my great surprise, she dug into her make-up kit and came up with an eye shadow brush, with  soft short bristle tip.  It would work in this pinch, for small fins and keep me on schedule.

I checked to assure that she wouldn't need it back, as I was quite certain that the sealant was going to pernitrate it, harden and ruin it after one usage.  She was fine with it, saying that you're not supposed to keep reusing the same applicators for long times, due to bacteria, etc.

So I tried it.  And it worked well enough to coat my fins with the initial application.  I was  pleased.  I used it efficiently and coated my balsa fins and set them aside to dry on my desk.

I washed out this tiny little brush, and squeezed out the tip. It seemed to rinse out cleanly, and I set it in my desk drawer to dry out as I returned to my work assignment.  

I had forgotten about it entirely until today, when I was sorting the tray in my drawer for something else, and came across the small brush.  I checked the fine tip and found that it was perfect...just as resilient as it was when she handed it to me.  So I keep it, ready to go in a pinch again.

What clever substitutions have you had to come up with when constructing your kits? The Thrifty Rocketeer wants to know your tales...