This Affordable Amazon Find Can Make Removing Paint From Brushes So Much Easier

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Whether you're completing a craft, revitalizing a piece of thrifted furniture, or touching up scuffs on your walls, a good paintbrush makes the job easy. What isn't easy, however, is getting that brush clean once you're done with your project. It can be tempting to just cut your losses and trash the entire thing upon seeing just how much paint is stuck between the bristles, but that feels wasteful. So what's the solution? Scrubbing by hand will certainly work, but if you're an avid painter, picking up this Paint Puck Original Paint Brush Cleaner could seriously streamline your cleanup job.

These little round devices won't clean your paint brushes for you, but they will make it easier to reach those stubborn deposits between the bristles. They're essentially just silicone rounds with small nubs across the surface and suction cups on the bottom. When stuck to your sink or the bottom of your brush cleaning cup, these nubs will give you a textured surface to run your brush across, helping agitate the bristles and release the paint without having to do so by hand. Because the nubs are made of flexible silicone, they shouldn't cause the same damage or fraying to your brushes that rubbing them against a more solid surface might. Once you're done, you can simply toss the Paint Pucks into the dishwasher and allow your brushes to air dry — no fuss necessary.

Paint pucks have been designed for use in rinse jars, but you can really stick them anywhere with a smooth surface thanks to their suction cups. When it's time to wash your brushes, you'll want to scrape off excess paint while the brush is dry first. From there, place the Paint Puck in the bottom of a rinse cup or stick it in the basin of a water source while it's dry — a sink, for example, or a bathtub if you think you're really going to make a mess. Get the brush wet and remove as much paint as you can easily, then start to gently rub the bristles on the Paint Puck either under hot running water or submerged in the cup. You can also use some dish soap here if desired. Check your progress periodically, and within a few seconds, you should be left with a clean brush. Shake out the water, dry off the bristles with a paper towel, and you're good to go!

Unfortunately, if you're using oil-based paints in your home, using this cleaner is a riskier endeavor. There are many different types of paint remover. Oil paints are most easily broken down with a solvent, and when this silicone puck is submerged in traditional paint thinner or mineral spirits, customers note that it swells up, becomes discolored, and eventually starts to break down. The brand specifically calls the Paint Puck an "oil paint brush cleaner" on its website, so it's safe to say customers were disappointed to find that this claim wasn't entirely accurate.

While there was some obvious negative feedback from oil painters who had a bad experience with this product, reviews are, for the most part, very positive. The Paint Puck Original Paint Brush Cleaner (3-Pack) has earned a solid 4.6 star average rating across almost 1,900 reviews on Amazon, and customers seem to agree that it's a very convenient product that has helped to significantly cut down the effort required to keep their brushes clean. "These paint puck brush cleaners are a small but surprisingly helpful addition to my painting setup. They make cleaning brushes quicker and more convenient, especially when working at my desk instead of running back and forth to the sink," one Amazon reviewer stated, echoing the opinion shared by many others.

Customers who were unsatisfied with their purchase mentioned a few different cons in addition to the solvent issue. Some stated that the pucks were smaller than they expected or that they weren't worth the $15.99 price tag for a three-pack, but the main complaint was that the suction cups wouldn't stay adhered to the surface that they were working with. If you decide to test out the product yourself, make sure to fully dry and clean the spot where you intend to secure the puck — while it's certainly possible that the suction on this product just isn't very strong, you'll see much better results with the proper prep.