Mike can fill us in Merv, but it looks like a truck stop brush to me. Thats basically the method everyone used before the strip washer…
Mike do you ever use a boars hair one or is the nylon your standard?
When I first started cleaning windows, I think we had horse hair brushes with wooden handles. They would lose hair and cause streaks. We’ve been using nylon since… at least 20 years ago I’d say.
The only name I’ve ever called these brushes or have heard them called is window cleaning brushes. I can get them from local janitorial supply places. They don’t have much a selection of window cleaning tools but they do have those.
I wish you sold them, I keep having to give PM’s where to buy them and I keep having to write out “unfortunately WCR doesn’t sell them so I hesitate to post a public link”.
Not that anyone would buy them.
post a link… thats cool…
I purchased one about 3 years ago at my local Ace Hardware, though they always have some cool and unusual tools.
It’s a 14 and has two Acme holes.
Ok, so this is a bit of a late post, but I tried out both methods talked about in this thread.
Firstly, I have to admit that when using Mike’s brush method I did not have the same brush, for trial purposes I just used my Ettore Super Brush. I was cleaning a very dirty conservatory and despite the brush being a bit awkward on the windows, the method worked really well.
Secondly, I used John’s method, of having two strip washers, using one for a pre-soak. On the same conservatory again…and this method also worked really well.
I also varied this method on some inside windows that had lots of fly marks etc. I needed to use my scraper, but basically used the first washer, scraped, cleaned frames, then used my second washer, which remained pretty clean throughout the job, before squeegeeing off and detailing. I figured that if I was giving the window its second wash/wet down with a clean strip washer, then the window should, theoretically, be cleaner…
Anyway, the conservatory was already on a regular basis, but the first time inside job pleased the customer so much I got a good tip and booked up for a regular quaterly clean. Cool!
You should put that tip toward a proper brush;)
Those Ettore super brushes, I’ve never used one but, they can’t possible do as good a job because they have the same basic make up as a strip washer. A round spine, you need one of my brushes with a flat wide base to get pressure on the glass.
btw, Mark cannibalized his Super Brush, he took off the swivle handle and attached it to the brush I use.
Then he made a boab, talk about a man of action.
I tried the brush method yesterday, Unger soft brush from the H/D, windows had not been done in at least 5 years. We get this baked on haze in Dallas that you really have to work at to get off. I could not get it all off with just the brush, tried a pre-soak with the brush, a spray down with extra cleaner, the only thing that would get it all off was a wet steel wool after the pre-soak. I will need to try Master Mike’s green brush.
I’ve been using the brush everyday for a week now. Give me another week and there will be a complete video review and a brush mod vid as well.
Sorry to keep going on about this post all the time… but the wagtail method ime trying to get across is for people that use a wagtail a lot… quite simply a wagtail holds very little water… but if you like using a wagtail on a regular basis and are confronted with fairly large windows ( ok not small windows ) its is easier / quicker to wet the window using a normal washer and then going at it with the wagtail… if you just use the wagtail you would be consistently going to your bucket or applying water with your water bottle… … i personally dont use the water bottle method with a wagtail at all ( maybe in the future who knows )… but i do use the water bottle method for certain houses / objects with a normal squeegee sometimes / rarely / ok now and then / or if you like once in a blue moon…
Ime not a wagtail man ! but i find the wagtail is a good tool to have when confronted with a few problem windows or when your on a ladder and you need to wash and squeegee quickly…its a good tool to have in your tools chest .
I actually tried the 6 " wagtail ( with yellow wash pad ) today on a bedroom closet french window mirrored glass styled thingy me bob in a customers bedroom and it was terrible… it was hard work on me wrists and its was awkward… i found the excess rotating of the ergonomic handle of the wagtail on the small mirrors on the closet ( roughly 100 of them 13 cm x 30 cm ) to be fairly demanding and quickly resorted back to my smallest squeegee 5 " it was like going from swimming in the atlantic to swimming in the dead sea… get me jist lol… plus me personally i dont like the wagtail squeegee on its own ( without the washer pad attached )… ive tried it a few times and found it to be ineffective… or for you simple people slowed me down too much. ( personal choice each to there own ),
I have recently been using the Wiljer blue devil sleeve… but again on very dirty glass i find its better to wash the window down with a separate washer (does not have to bee on a double BOAB ) this takes literally seconds… this helps considerably when going at with the other washer ( Wiljer ) because i found the wiljer sleeve works better when the glass is pre wetted… its quicker using a wiljer sleeve than a pulex micro tiger or any other washer available… at cleaning glass that is fairly dirty ( whats the definition of dirty glass ? ok glass that doesnt need to be steel wooled or scraped ) " i cant say if its quicker than a brush " but i am going to try try it because i think Mr Squeegee has a big point there and i do genuinly respect what hes saying ! but mainly for outside work… when i am doing insides i need to catch the water because i quite often use a squeegee thats 45 cm - 55 cm in length and mikes 12 " brush will not catch all the water after squeegeeing…
Or as crazy as it seems !!! pre wet the glass and go at with the brush… hell if the brush cleans dirty glass Cleaner / Quicker than a wiljer and all the other available washers… it is most defin… worth the try… but commons sense says to me at the moment with a 2 second pre wet with a 55cm washer. now that makes a lot of sense to me. ( depending on how high the temperatures are where you are of course )
