That old sweep in Pittsburgh changed my whole approach to brush selection

I was up in Pittsburgh last month helping a buddy with a big commercial job, and this veteran sweep who'd been doing it since the 70s watched me grab my standard poly brush. He just shook his head and told me I was basically tickling the flue with that thing for heavy creosote. He pulled out this beat up steel wire brush with worn bristles and showed me how it actually cuts through the glaze instead of just pushing it around. I tried his method on a section that had a quarter inch of buildup and the difference was night and day. Now I keep a steel brush for the first pass on problem chimneys and switch to poly for the final polish. Has anyone else had an old timer change their tool game like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

nora_wells589d ago

A steel brush for the first pass? That's interesting because I always heard steel bristles could scratch the liner and cause more buildup over time. Did he mention anything about that or was he just going by decades of trial and error? I'm curious how long that steel brush held up before the bristles started falling out.

oscarwright9d ago

Wait, don't most steel brushes have brass or stainless steel bristles that won't rust or scratch cast iron?