Lol , some of the brushes I just threw out yesterday looked like that and dumbass me was still trying to paint figures with them !! And I’m complaining because my figures aren’t looking to good lately. Just bought 4 WN series 7 brushes today so there’s no more excuses lol.
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I suspect that some of the cost is the Godhand name…
I agree that the GH prices are way high for synthetic brushes. I can only imagine that they must exhibit some special “hand made” quality that might account for that. I probably wouldn’t buy one unless I could examine it first hand, but I certainly would buy more than one sight unseen.
However, I’m currently pretty satisfied with the brushes that I’m using, a combination of W&N series 7 and Army Painter. All of these are natural bristle brushes. I’m confident enough in the W&N brushes that I’ll buy them online from pretty much any vendor that has them, shopping by price and availability. The Army Painter brushes are carried by a local hobby shop, and I can look at and examine each one before I buy it. I might reject 3 or 4 before I find one that has a perfect point.
A problem for brush buyers in the US is that a few years back, the US Fish and Wildlife Service put sable and mink on the endangered species list. It has taken a long time for sable brush makers to get their products approved since the political advocates for animal “rights” put pressure on the bureaucrats claiming that the importers could not guarantee the sable mink sources were farm-raised rather than trapped in the wild. This insanity created an instant shortage of quality red (or Kolenski) sable brushes in the US and drove up prices. Now that the brushes are becoming available again (certified as “farm raised”), the prices, of course, have not dropped to reflect the new availabilty. High quality genuine sable brushes in the US are now very expensive. (Not that they were ever really “cheap.”) The situation here in regards to price and availability is improving, but only slowly.
This still doesn’t really rationalize the cost of the GH brushes, but it might help to provide some context as to why anyone here in the US would consider paying that much for synthetic bristle brushes. High quality red sable brush prices go through the roof, and the artificial price bubble creates room for the cheaper brush makers to raise their prices, too.
Any hoo…
I’ve been using the combination of cleaners, W&N and Masters on my brushes for going on two decades. My method is very conservative on materials, and I’m still using the same bottle and tub that I’ve had for years. A little goes a long way for both products.
The W&N cleaner-restorer is really potent and, to my thinking, probably harsh and hard on the bristles. However, it is superior to everything else I’ve ever used to give brushes are good, deep cleaning to get out all the paint imbedded in the bristles around the ferrule.
My general process is:
I always start painting by giving my brush a dip into whatever paint thinner is applicable to pre-load the bristles crammed in the end of the ferrule. After painting, I’ll give them a washing swish and wipe or two in the paint thinner. For changing colors or taking a short break this is all I do.
At the end of the day, I follow this by just dipping the end of the brush up to about the middle of the ferrule into the W&N cleaner and then, leaving it wet, set it aside to soak for a minute or two while I do the same for all the other brushes I’ve used in that session. (Keeping in mind that they’ve all already gotten the 'ol “swish and wipe” in thinner.)
After a minute or so of soaking in the W&N cleaner, I’ll start “rolling and pull-wiping” each brush to remove the deeply embedded paint, concentrating on the area where the bristles enter the ferrule. I’ll keep dipping the brush into W&N cleaner and letting it soak as I work assembly-line fashion through all the brushes used. When I “roll and pull-wipe,” I drag the brush across the towel material slowly while also turning it to wipe the bristles all around. Pulling slowly keeps from “bunging” the bristles by pushing them into the towel. I just repeat this process until no more paint or color comes out of the bristles next to the ferrule.
I then rinse the W&N cleaner out of the brush by swishing in water.
I follow this by taking the still wet brush to my little tub of “The Masters Cleaner and Preserver.” I’ll work up a little lather in the bristles and work it into the brush. I’ll then take the brush loaded with the Masters preserver and drag-wipe the bristles into a nice point. At that time, I’ll store them handle down bristles up in a cup leaving the Masters preserver to dry.
Occasionally, I’ll notice during the lathering up stage in the Masters that I’m still getting some color or paint coming out of the bristles, so I’ll rinse the brush in water and repeat the lathering up. If this is really bad, I’ll rinse the brush in water and go back to the W&N cleaner. Usually, though, this process gets my brushes good and clean the first go’round.
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Thanks for all the replies and advice! 
SdAufKla, thanks for your process. I normally don’t dip my brush in thinner first, but that’s a good idea that I have to try because some of the Vallejos get thicker as they age.
I do have quality artist sable brushes bought from Europe and they’re excellent.
I strongly caution buying those cheaper artist brushes at the Art and Crafts store because their tips don’t last as long or stay as pointed as the quality artists brushes mentioned in this forum.
(Oh, and my decision is that I’ll pass on the Godhand brushes for now as I do have a set of brushes that I haven’t even used yet). This site has been very helpful in recommending European brushes several years ago.
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Okay sure, it’s good advice and all but the problem is I don’t use caution when I’m painting. As I wrote above I’m hard on my brushes and I’d much rather beat the crap out of some cheap brushes than expensive ones…
My paint brushes wont hold their point because of the way I abuse them and as each new brush wears out, it just gets relegated to a lesser task and a new brush replaces it. I’ve done the expensive brush thing in the past and they wound up getting just as messed up as the cheap ones because I am so hard on them and that isn’t about to change.
So to those people who feel they want the best of the best and will love and care for them, by all means buy them up. At the end of the day this is what I do with my cheap brushes, and I’m okay with that.
I hear ya Ken. I’ve done both- more expensive brushes and the less expensive- and my figs look the same mostly- in all honesty. But I’ve made a improvements over the years by just painting more and getting advice from my fig painting friends . It is a perishable skill , at least for me lol, especially if one only paints a handful of figures a year. It’s very difficult for me even though I use an optivisor ; my hand isn’t as steady anymore also, whereas I can do armor in my sleep. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal which brushes to use. In one of my previous posts I mentioned Dan Capuano who does world class work with cheap brushes.
Rich
Here are a few figs I painted about 2 years apart: the US Para about 2018 and the Germans/Russians diorama 2020, the last figure being the Russian with the shovel who I think came my best yet . I used a number of brushes to paint them all around the 0- 3/0 sizes, cheap and not do cheap lol.
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Remember Freddy Flamethrower Face Krueger & Skizzy Fritz both wished a GH had painted their pathetic faces instead of a Testor’s. 
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LMAO !! Sometimes it doesn’t matter the quality of the brushes lol
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So a few months have passed; I didn’t buy any Godhand brushes. Did anyone buy and try them?
Yes good question I’m curious to know how they worked
I bought one but my figure painting didn’t work out too well so nothing to show.
I like the GH brush well enough. I still like Red Sable better.
Yeah I’ll stick with my series 7 red sables but try to practice my figure painting more lol
Thanks for all the answers. I’m holding off on Godhand for now and sticking with the other red sable brushes that hobbyists recommend.