Purdy 144080510 XL Elite Series Dale Angular Trim Paint Brush, 1 inch

Purdy makes the best angled sash brushes out there. Even a complete amateur like me can load up the bristles and apply a smooth line of trim. This brush checks all the boxes for quality, value, and function. Yes, professionals recommend it and people out to spend a few quid to paint their own houses can make it look like a professional came by to help with ease. GOOD: Brilliant design makes this a brush among brushes. The handle is long enough for comfort and reaching fiddly spots between window trim and a corner where you have to perform acrobatic contortions to otherwise fit. You aren't forced to strap a foot of wood to your wrist like a bizarre splint or flail around like a kid playing at conducting a symphony. Paint goes on and stays on. I've used semi-gloss trim paint, satin and eggshell by Sherwin-Williams and Benjamin Moore. Their formulations help reduce streaks, but it's really the brush that works the magic. It spreads paint out evenly and allows for delicate applications without clumping up or dripping. The length and size allow for control without covering only a narrow strip of space. It's an all-around great product. BAD: The bristles retain paint so well that it takes considerably more effort to clean the paint out. A small quibble but an important thing to note. You'll need more elbow grease, but the results are worth it.

Purdy is the best paintbrush ever made. Now that I've experienced Purdy, I'll never use any other brand of paintbrush again. I used to think Purdy brushes were expensive, but now I see that using them saves money and time and produces a superior paint job. The bristles keep their shape, even after many uses; work well as a team and stay together (instead of shedding and staying on the freshly painted surface); and are far easier to clean, time after time after time, than other brands are. True story: Weeks ago after I used this Purdy brush one day, my husband said he would clean it and put it away. But, one thing led to another and then another and so on, and the other day I discovered to my dismay that he had not cleaned the brush. So all the paint on the brush had dried and hardened. I thought we would have to throw the brush away and buy a replacement Purdy. But my husband, well acquainted with Purdy's quality, decided to try cleaning this brush. Lo and behold! To our surprise and delight, he got all the paint out of the bristles while the bristles remained intact! And, this cleanup didn't take very long. Neither of us recommends doing this to any brush, ever; but because it happened to our Purdy and we had nothing to lose by trying to clean it, we decided to try. So the brush was saved, still looks great, and is ready for the next time we paint our house. This Purdy brush is well worth every penny.

Best paint brush ever!!!

Terrific brush, as usual from Purdy. Bristles keep their shape. Flexible but not mushy. My go to brand.

This is a high-quality brush, which you can expect from Purdy. The brush I bought was a 3 inch XL Swan. It holds plenty of paint and paints smoothly. It is beefy with a thick 3-row filament base by the ferrule (band around bristles/filaments) and then tapers off to a pointy tip. This brush can also be used on outdoor projects as well it is an XL series brush which is a mixture of Dupont Tynex nylon and Orel polyester with solid round tapered (SRT) filaments. These brushes also have a solid well-balanced beaver tail style handle which offers good control and is not too long so you can easily maneuver it even in tighter spaces (this is my opinion others may disagree with which handle is best). This brush will handle thicker paints under hot/humid conditions and still remain stiff enough. For all-paints (especially heavier-bodied paints) and the ability to use the same brush inside or outside you won't go wrong with this brush or the XL series in general. This brush can go from the interior wall to the deck and do a good job on both. Clean-up with today's fast drying latex paints can be a bit tough, paint does stick a bit to the polyester filaments but if you use a brush comb and are diligent about cleaning it shouldn't have a negative impact on the brush's performance. In general Purdy's clean up well and quickly relative to lessor brushes. As a side note: If you are going to be using latex paints (exclusively) that are not too thick and strictly for indoor work the Purdy Nylox is likely a better choice it paints ultra-smooth with virtually no brush marks and cleans better than the XL's (has all purple dyed nylon filaments) but it's on the soft side which may not be for everyone.

I’ve always heard Purdy brushes were excellent quality so I decided to spend a few extra dollars to try it out. Quality of the brush is excellent, brush marks are few and the bristles don’t shed when washed like lower quality brushes. The one complaint that I have is that the brush doesn’t hold much paint compared to my Wooster brush. I find myself dipping the Purdy brush a lot more than the Wooster. Still better than a no name brush, but I would prefer a Wooster.

Very good quality

EDIT: After 5 years or so of history with Purdy, please allow a few more comments: I now buy only Purdy... no more lower level brushes for "rough stuff" unless I'm slapping paint onto a barn as fast as I can go, without regard for the texture. Purdy has raised my standards in painting and now when I feel the need for a new brush (which isn't that often, by the way, even though I have so many wooden surfaces inside and out that I paint constantly) I just retire the old brush to lower quality jobs and still try to take care of it as best I can. One note though, primers like Kilz take the spring out of the bristles and are really hard on a good brush, so save your old brushes for that. Your 5-year old Purdy brush can still make your primer dead smooth, so don't ruin things with a cheap brush even on the primer. The Purdy brushes will give a good painter a glass-like finish even with latex, so I look back at some of my old work with disgust, because I didn't use the Purdys and that work is not up to my new Purdy standard. ORIGINAL REVIEW: Purdys are for the finest of jobs because the brush is always perfect... no loose bristles, perfect cut for a flawless finish. They last longer of course, but that's because when you pay the price for a perfect brush, you take better care of it... I'd never take a break and leave the brush laying there with wet paint on it like I would a cheaper brush... too much to lose! But if you're serious about painting, this brush deserves a respected place in your shop.