Animal hair brushes have been used for centuries; the first known use of animal bristles being used for brushes dates back to ancient times in China and Egypt.
These days, synthetic fibres are much more common, but horse hair paint brushes and animal hair brushes are still widely used in various industries where a highly specialised application requires it.
Horsehair animal bristles
Horsehair animal bristles are a durable and resilient medium to high-cost material, ideal for use in brushes for cleaning smooth floors and windows, as well as in horse hair paint brushes and cobweb brushes. Horsehair animal bristles are also used in high-quality equestrian brushes.
The best animal bristles are made from horsehair taken from the tail. Tail hair is stiffer than mane hair; its soft-to-slightly-stiff texture gives a scratch-free dry cleaning and has very good durability. Unfortunately, animal hair brushes made from horsehair are not resistant to acids or alkalis.
Animal bristle brushes made from horsehair are ideal for buffing, cleaning, dusting, and finishing in a variety of animal bristle brush styles.
Animal bristle brushes made from horsehair are ideal for:
- Floor sweeps
- Shoe shine brushes
- Horse hair paint brushes
- Tin handle acid brushes
- Counter dusters
- Window brushes
- Excellent for ESD (electrostatic discharge) applications
- Heat distortion temperature is 190ºc
To find out if horsehair, or any of our animal hair brushes, would be suitable for your application, contact our team.
Boar animal bristles
Animal bristles made from boar hair are relatively scarce and expensive. This material has characteristics that set it apart as the best natural filling material for a wide variety of animal bristle brushes.
Each strand of animal bristle has a natural taper from the butt or flesh end to the tip, giving it resilience not found in other hairs. In addition, the tip end of each animal bristle is naturally split into two or more branches called the flag.
Hog bristle has a slightly stiff to very stiff texture and is brown or black in colour excellent for ESD applications. It has excellent durability and water resistance.
Pig Hair (Chunking) animal bristles
Animal bristles made from pig hair, or chunking is a premium quality Pig Bristle that comes from China. For fine brushes animal bristle is taken from the neck of the pig, and for paint brushes it is taken from the animal’s flank. Pig Bristle is characterised by its stiffness and elasticity, and is available generally in cream, black and grey, but can be dyed any colour.
Goat animal bristles
The hair is clipped from the breast of the goat, where soft and springy hair is found. The hair is then washed and combed. It is durable, resilient and very soft. It is almost exclusively used in high quality equestrian brushes for bringing the final gloss to horses’ coats and for computer keyboard cleaning brushes.
To find out more about Widdops range of animal hair brushes, our filaments and their uses, contact our helpful team today.