Like many of us in the sawdust arts, I don’t enjoy painting, and I’d give myself a B as a painter—not bad, but hardly great (or efficient or fast). Yet, in small batches, doing my own painting has saved or made me tens of thousands of dollars. I recently started using the Richard 13425 1-in. Elegance Trim Brush ($9 on amazon.com), which has really upped my game. I like to overpaint the trim, lapping onto the walls just a bit, then cut the walls into the trim. Cutting in with a Richard trim brush is way faster compared to a regular brush. My guess is a four-fold increase in speed, and the cuts are laser straight.

With this brush, work is more like drawing than painting. Just dab the brush in the can and wipe a little off the bottom of the bristles, “load” the wall by wiggling the paint on there about 1 in. from the cutline, then cut wall to trim. Its dazzling how well I was able to ride this brush along the trim without riding over. And it’s comfortable to hold—I can hold it in several different positions and still get remarkable results. I have a short list of things that are “the best 10 bucks I ever spent,” and this one races to the top. It’ll earn its keep in the first 15 minutes of your next paint job.

– Mark Clement, carpenter

Photo: Rodney Diaz

From Fine Homebuilding #298