Some of you will recognize these brushes immediately – they’re Otis cleaning brushes.
Otis primarily markets their brushes for cleaning firearm parts, but they can be used on tools and all kinds of parts and equipment.
The bristle colors are important, as this indicates their stiffness.
White: The white bristles are the softest.
Blue: The blue bristles are stuffer and a little more aggressive, while still being made from nylon.
Bronze: The bronze-bristled brush is stiffer and used for more aggressive cleaning of metal parts.
Stainless Steel: The stainless steel bristles are most aggressive.
Otis recommends the white and blue nylon brushes for use on “virtually any surface,” including wood. The bronze and stainless brushes are recommended for use on metal parts.
Brass brushes are usually best used on uncoated metal parts, and stainless steel brushes come in handy when very aggressive scrubbing is required.
The brushes measure 7″ in length, and 0.4″ wide.
Each brush has a large head for cleaning and scrubbing wider areas, and a smaller precision head for cleaning smaller parts or reaching in tight spaces.
The brushes can be used for all kinds of applications. Otis says:
These versatile brushes have many uses from automobile detailing, boats, golf equipment, battery terminals, camping, grout, jewelry, wood working and more.
I bought my first set of Otis cleaning brushes a long time ago (2013 according to my Amazon order history), and they have come in very handy for precision cleaning tasks.
I use Otis brushes for all kinds of cleaning tasks, such as on circuit boards and components that will be soldered, small parts that are being glued or painted, and for cleaning chips from newly-cut metal threads.
These brushes are made in the USA.
Price: $1-2 per brush on average
More Purchase Options
- 9pc Assortment at Amazon
- 10-Pack White Brushes (+ Bonus Blue) at Amazon
- 10-Pack Blue Brushes at Amazon
- 10-pack Bronze Brushes at Amazon
- 10-Pack Stainless Steel Brushes at Amazon
If you’re not sure what you might need, start with the 3-pack and go from there. I regularly order 10-packs of white-bristle brushes, and you can find the same value pack for the other styles as well.
These cleaning brushes are stiffer and straighter than old toothbrushes, and the pricing is very reasonable.
Sure, you can raid your medicine cabinet, but how much will it cost you to replace a soft-bristled toothbrush vs. buying a higher-performing medium or stiffer-bristled brush meant specifically for cleaning tools and parts?
Besides that, these work better.
As a reader mentioned in an older post (thank you Nathan!), Otis brushes should be more oil or solvent-resistant than toothbrushes, and should also be more resistant to bristle-shedding.
Here are more Cleaning Tool ideas:
