When a man tosses out a good brush he murders a small part of the world.
Doesn't sound like you are throwing out "good" brushes.Wd, If you keep the brush soaking in thinner, grab a brush sleeve, like the protector it came in, to protect the bristles from curling or flattening. Or you can wrap in newspaper. Drop foam brush from your vocabulary.
From a certain point of view, brushes are disposable. My friend Matt1970 would disagree. I am a murderer, of small parts of the world.:laughing: I can't begin to tell you the last time I cleaned an oil brush. When I used a lot of oil I would wrap them in a fancy newspaper sleeve (it's an old school trick, of which I have a photo tutorial to post on my blog someday), and place them in an empty paint can with thinner and sometimes linseed oil. When you needed one, unwrap, spin out, and go. As good as the day it was bought.
Now that I don't use a lot of oil, things have changed. When I need an oil brush today, I take a latex brush that I've made my money on and dip that, or I buy a throwaway brush. I stopped using china bristle a long, long time ago. If I have a real fancy oil job, I might buy a new latex brush. I can buy a pro brush for 10-15 dollars, and off that 10-15 dollars, I can make a thousand. The brush has paid for itself. The amount of solvents requried to properly clean that brush cost almost half of what I paid for it. When you factor in the time involved in the cleaning, and disposing of the used thinner, the total cost of cleaning the brush exceeds what I paid for it. In economic terms, cleaning brushes is a loss.
My father worked for a major electric utility, and he used to bring home equipment that was left on projects. Outside private contractors who did jobs at the plants would leave a lot of equipment on the jobs when done. He bought home a 20 ft aluminum pick one time. The cost to the contractor of the manpower to collect the equipment, ship it to a storage area, store it, and then ship it to the next job was more costly than the pick itself. For each new job they would order new equipment, have the seller ship it to the job, use it to make money, and then leave it for the vultures. You sometimes have to think things through a little deeper, and you can't be sentimental.
Opinions vary. Most brushes cost more than the thinner it will take to clean it so I rarely judge it by that. If you only need it for a small water leak or something, a sray can of Bin is always easier and a lot of times cheaper.What constitutes a "good" brush?