Sarah Coussens, Head of Marketing – Trade at Hamilton, explains how four years of research and development have resulted in a high-performance brush that delivers for every application.
In the quest for more sustainable, higher performing and more versatile finishes, paints and coatings have recently gone through something of an evolution. However, the tools used to apply these innovative coatings have not always kept pace with the same level of innovation, until recently.
So what does it take to design and manufacture a new paint brush? It may sound fanciful, but any professional decorator understands that small changes in design and filament material can make a huge difference to paint consistency, finish and application experience. That’s why Hamilton has spent the past four years developing its new Perfection CleanEdge brush.
There’s no doubt that paint technology has advanced significantly throughout the past few years. Today, professional decorators can access water-based paints, bio-formulations, self-healing and antimicrobial coatings – even paints containing nanotechnology. These all serve multiple purposes: bolstering durability, improving weather resistance, heightening functionality. But what of the tools we use to apply them? The formula for creating a paint brush has not changed for several years; we wanted to innovate paint brush design to keep pace with paint and coatings technology.
Outperforming nature
The first notable difference in the Perfection CleanEdge brush is the lack of natural bristle. While still favoured by some decorators, the quality of this animal-borne bi-product is declining amidst ethical concerns. Natural bristle is also prone to shedding and while highly effective on oil-based paints, it is less compatible with water and chemical-based paints. While not wanting to lose the structure of natural bristle, a synthetic brush that mimics natural bristle has been developed, whilst outperforming its predecessor upon application. The result is a brush that is easier to clean, and which does not require the usual ‘break-in’ period.
Intensive testing helped ensure that the right balance between tradition and innovation has been struck – the new CleanEdge filaments have been tested in laboratory conditions, by third party bodies, well-known paint manufacturers and more importantly, by professional decorators. All tests confirmed an increase in performance compared with natural bristle.
High performance for high viscosity
High viscosity paints are commonly in demand for their improved coverage, simpler application, improved levelling and their enhanced adhesion properties. However, not all painting tools are well-suited for these thicker, more viscous coatings. Many have longer, finer filaments more suited to thinner, low viscosity paints. Hamilton’s Perfection MaxStroke range suits this description, and has been designed with low viscosity, high fluid paints in mind.
Where the new Perfection CleanEdge brush differs is its suitability to high viscosity painting applications. It features stiffer, flagged tips that can be activated straight out of the packet. This, together with the innovative filament mix, empowers decorators to effortlessly push and drag thicker paints, while achieving a clean edge. This not only enables decorators to apply high viscosity paints with speed and ease, but it also assures a superior quality finish.
Brushing up on paints
Synthetic brushes – the category occupied by the Perfection CleanEdge brush – first enjoyed popularity in the 1990s as paints became more acrylic in composition. The development was born out of practicality, with decorators demanding a more durable brush than those containing bristle, due to the frequency at which they had to be cleaned when applying acrylic paints.
Water-based polyurethane formulations followed, giving a more controllable, higher quality finish but for the most part, synthetic painting tools lacked the same pace of innovation. That is until Hamilton realised that one synthetic brush is not enough to meet the demands of all decorators; instead, tool development had to start keeping up with paint improvements if decorators were to unlock full of advantage of new technologies.
There’s a lot more that goes into designing a new premium paintbrush than many may consider. That’s why Hamilton has its own cutting-edge research and development base and laboratory facilities based in the Midlands and Sweden.
From there, specialists are constantly looking at new paint formulations, decorating trends and working with major paint manufacturers to ensure the company continues to design and manufacture decorating tools for every task.
It’s not just the application of the brush that is examined, but the environmental impact as well. Not only does the Perfection CleanEdge brush replace natural bristle with synthetic materials, but it also contains less single-use packaging than many other products. Plastic clam packs have been replaced by recyclable card, while only FSC® Certified wood is used in the handle design. The result is a new premium brush that delivers a Hamilton finish for the benefit of surfaces, decorators and the planet.
For further information on the Hamilton Perfection range visit https://www.hamiltondecoratingtools.co.uk/brushes/paint-brush/?range%5B%5D=perfection
