Cleaning Toothbrushes — Need Your Advice

[foakes]

I have always tossed into the trash any really greased up toothbrushes after using — that the grease will not come off easily.

Is there a way to clean these up easily without ruining them?  Degreaser, bleach, or?

Wayne has given me a bunch of these, along with my dentist, and Dollar Tree.

Any thoughts?  Or just keep tossing?

Thanks!

Best,

Fred

[Bryan Young]

I keep tossing them because the oil will tend to degrade the bristles too.

[Shark Hunter]

brake cleaner

[El Pescador]

And Fred, I'll do it again,

One call to my Dentist and I have have a bag of 200 new brushes,

Would you like some new brushes???

I get my teeth cleaned on Monday, I will ask her,

Wayne

[Midway Tommy]

I swish mine around in lacquer thinner if they get really bad. It does a good job but you have to be quick otherwise the bristles will deform and the handle will melt. When I clean the parts with original White GOOP hand cleaner the GOOP cleans the bristles while cleaning the parts so not much else is needed. I've been using the same brush for about 5 years now.  

[STRIPER LOU]

Fred,

How about running them thru your ultrasonic cleaner?

.................Lou

[philaroman]

keep tossing...  aside from getting dirty,
the bristles loose stiffness & alignment
'til an ex-brush is no more effective than a rag on a stick

[akfish]

I drop mine in a bowl with straight Simple Green. After a few hours or over night, I rinse them in warm water and they're good to go.

[philaroman]

also, for detailed work, I use little brushes for electric clippers/shavers -- I think those are made from different materials that are actually meant to come in contact w/ lubes & solvents w/out loss of structural integrity

[Lunker Larry]

I just lay mine on a dirty shop rag when I'm done and give them a soak with WD40. Give them a minute, wipe the excess and blow it with compressed air into the rag. Works perfect thank you.

[Gfish]

Same as Larry only I soak mine in the WD, then scrape on terry cloth. Works on metal brushes also.

[Ron Jones]

If you look at Alan's tutorials from 10+ years ago, he uses 2 tooth brushes; one for cleaning/greasing and one for drag grease. I used both of them last month. Smashed flat and filthy, but still working great. I wouldn't want to guess how many reels they've serviced.

The Man

[Frank]

I drop mine in a bowl with straight Simple Green. After a few hours or over night, I rinse them in warm water and they're good to go.

I do the same. I use Simple Green in my ultrasonic parts cleaner too. I'm very happy with the results and no fumes.

[RowdyW]

I use a cheap 1 inch paint brush with the bristles cut shorter to clean parts , plates, etc. For greasing I use flux brushes with the bristles shortened. Cheap & last almost forever.       Rudy

[Rivverrat]

I put them in the sonic cleaner with dish soap. Then when I visit my son I swap it out with a new one on the sink in the X's bathroom...