Video Review: The Silicoil Brush Cleaning Tank
My own rather well-used Silicoil tank. Notice the flaking printing on the logo.
Any miniature painter will tell you that keeping one’s brushes clean is a critical task. Not only can dried paint and ink left over from previous uses contaminate later paint jobs, such detritus can seriously reduce the service life of your expensive brushes.
Brushes can be quite hard to clean. They are delicate, especially at the fragile and all-important points. One can’t just scrub a good brush across a sheet of newspaper a few times and call it a day. Fortunately the Lion Company has created an excellent solution to the problem: the Silicoil Brush Cleaning Tank.
Using the Silicoil is easy. One simply fills the glass tank with the Silicoil cleaning fluid (alas, sold separately). To clean a brush, you just stroke it gently across the ridged surface of the coiled aluminum insert. This spreads the bristles and exposes the paint and other gunk to the action of the cleaning fluid. Dissolved paint and other junk settle to the floor of the tank well below the cleaning surface, which sits supported on a coiled spring. Take a look at the video to see the tank in action.
This simple procedure does a terrific job of cleaning my brushes. I use the Silicoil after every painting session, and have noticed my brushes seem to last quite a lot longer and retain their points much better. I suspect this is a function of the Silicoil helping to prevent the buildup of dried paint in the ferrule (the metal part that connects the bristles to the handle of a brush).
According to the instructions, users of water-base paint don’t even need to use the cleaning fluid, but can get much the same results using just plain water. I personally prefer to use the cleaner, as it not only cleans my brushes but conditions the bristles as well. Maybe this is less of a concern for synthetic brushes, but considering the cost of quality kolinsky sable brushes these days I figure it’s worth the minor extra investment.
There aren’t many downsides to the Silicoil Tank. The brush cleaner does have a slight chemical smell to it, and you’re likely to get some on your hands while using the tank. Also, you’ll need to replace the cleaning fluid periodically. How often boils down to how much you paint, but I’ve gone six or eight months between changes with no problems. Finally, the printing on the tank (the logo and use instructions) is of very low quality and started flaking off mine almost instantly.
The fact that I have to reach so far to find bad things to say should show just how enthusiastic I am about the Silicoil. It’s a well-engineer piece of gear that has made my time at the paint bench easier and better, as well as substantially extending the life of my beloved Winsor & Newton brushes. Any serious painter needs to make room for one of these in their workspace.
I ordered my through Dick Blick, but they are widely available at good art supply stores, and I’ve even seen one at Hobby Lobby, so you may want to look locally before paying for shipping.
Pros: Cheap, Effective, Extends life of brushes
Cons: Slight chemical smell, Needs new cleaning fluid periodically
Final Verdict: 5/5
Source: Purchased from Dick Blick Art Materials
MSRP: Tank $5.77, 16oz Cleaning Fluid $7.05
Popularity: 13% [?]
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Nice review, just purchased the Lion Silicoil Brush Cleaning Tank and two bottles of the Silicoil Brush Cleaning Fluid today, all based on your review. Still have to try it out, but all I can say is you are right about the smell, though its not as bad as some brush cleaners I have used in the past.
Bought mine at Hobby Lobby for $7.99 for the Tank and $9.59 for a 16oz bottle of the fluid, though I did have a couple of 40% off coupons and had a family member who went to Hobby Lobby with me use one of them for one bottle of the Fluid. After the 40% off paid $4.79 before tax for the tank ) and $5.75 before tax for one bottle of the fluid. The second bottle of fluid was purchased at full price, $9.59 before tax.
Now on to the smell, as I said its not as bad as some brush cleaners I have used in the past, though since the Siliciol fluid is a petroleum derived cleaner a smell is to be expected. also like any brush cleaning solution, you will have to periodically change it.
I will be using the tank and fluid to clean primarily Reaper Pro Paints/Master Series off of my brushes, along with some of the Folk Art/Apple Barrel Paints by Plaid (commonly found at Walmart), and the occasional use of Citadel Color by Games Workshop and Formula P3 by Privateer Press.
Small update on the Silicoil Cleaning tank. I have notices that as you mentioned the screen printing (paint) on the outside with the logo and the instructions comes off easily. I noticed it seems to come off when some of the cleaning solution touches the printing, as long as the outside is dry and no wet solution is on it the printing stays on the cleaning tank just fine. While I havent used mine extensively enough yet, I have noticed it is getting my primarily brush cleaner, and I have also noticed some dried paint that was in the bristles of another brush have been falling out of the brush when cleaning it in the Silicoil Cleaning tank, this though could also be due to the Silicoil Cleaning Solution dissolving some of the dried (acrylic) paint on the brush allowing the dried on paint to break up when the brush is run over the coil in the tank.
Small update on the Silicoil Cleaning tank. I have notices that as you mentioned the screen printing (paint) on the outside with the logo and the instructions comes off easily. I noticed it seems to come off when some of the cleaning solution touches the printing, as long as the outside is dry and no wet solution is on it the printing stays on the cleaning tank just fine.
While I havent used mine extensively enough yet, I have noticed it is getting my primarily brush cleaner, and I have also noticed some dried paint that was in the bristles of another brush have been falling out of the brush when cleaning it in the Silicoil Cleaning tank, this though could also be due to the Silicoil Cleaning Solution dissolving some of the dried (acrylic) paint on the brush allowing the dried on paint to break up when the brush is run over the coil in the tank.