I’m a professional decorator with 15 years in the game. In that time, I have used a lot of different brushes. The market seems to be flooded with them nowadays!! Different brands, shapes and sizes. It can all get a bit confusing, even for me and I’m a brush geek!!! In this blog I want to talk about one of the unsung heroes. A brush that can be overlooked but is worthy enough to be part of a decorators’ armory. This is my Kana Professional synthetic paintbrush review.
Kana Professional Synthetic – the Emulsion Brush
The Kana Professional synthetic 3inch is best used in emulsion for painting walls and ceilings. It has a generous amount of dense dark bristles designed to hold a lot of paint. This means you can cut in long, straight lines with ease. The Kana Professional is probably as good for cutting in lines as anything else on the market. The handle is the perfect shape for easy grip and the brush feels balanced in your hand.
There are a few minor drawbacks to this brush in emulsion. You can experience a very small amount of bristle loss when you first use your Kana professional, but nothing that isn’t manageable and it’s a lot less than some other paintbrushes. The next little niggle is the bristles are springy, meaning the brush can flick paint while you’re using it. Again, this is manageable if you’re conscious of it. Funnily enough, that same springiness in the bristles also makes the brush easier to cut in with.
Kana Professional Synthetic – the Woodwork Brush
There was a time when you wouldn’t consider using anything synthetic in oil-based paints. Nowadays the paint has changed so much it performs better with a synthetic brush than it would do using natural bristles. Kana Synthetic is perfect in both oil-based and water-based trim paints. You’ll find it keeps its shape well, you can square off into corners easily and the cutting in is a dream. Easily as good as purdy in this regard.
Kana Professional Synthetic in Masonry or to Paint Textured Wallpaper
This may seem like a strange combo, but I’m going to do masonry and textured wallpaper together. The Kana Professional wears down very quickly. If you’re a decorator like me, you’ll see that as a good thing. Yes, the lifespan of the brush is diminished, but it means the brush is “broken in” in less time. The bristles become worn, take on a certain shape and it’s easier to work it over textured surfaces such as masonry and embossed wallpaper (see why I did that combo now). It can take years for other brands to wear down enough, whereas the Kana Professional Synthetic will be ready in a matter of months of regular use. These are extremely good brushes once they get to this stage!!
The Price
This is the headline for me. A paint technician who works for PPG once told me, “it is easy to make a good product at a high price. The challenge is manufacturing a good product for a reasonable price”. Seems like a basic thing to say, but he is right. The Kana Professional synthetic reminds me a lot of the Purdy XL. Purdy is probably the brand leader amongst professional decorators, and it comes with a premium price tag. The Purdy XL 3inch for example will set you back over £15 for one brush. The Kana equivalent is £7!!! There is absolutely no way on this planet the Purdy is worth twice as much as Kana, but if I’m being honest, I’d say the Purdy is priced fairly.
What Kana have done is produce a professional quality paintbrush for a throwaway price!! I have absolutely no idea how they’ve managed to do it, but to say you get value for money with Kana is a massive understatement. These are genuinely one of my favorite brushes and I always have a few in the van.
Kana is made by Ciret. If you want more information just head over to Ciret’s website. These brushes are available from Tool Station and about a million different DIY stores.
Summary
Kana Professional Synthetic Paintbrush Review - Decorator's forum UK
A general-use paintbrush with synthetic bristles and wooden handle.
Product Brand: Ciret - Kana
4
Pros
- Very versatile.
- Comfortable to hold.
- Holds loads of paint.
- Wears down to a great shape.
- Cheap
- Readily available.
Cons
- They don’t last as long as other professional brands.
- You can’t cut as sharp a line as you can with some of the other brands.
What Another Decorator has to Say
If anyone is thinking of buying some new brushes, pop to Toolstation and buy a few of these Kana paint brushes. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. You can pick them up online, they’re cheap and can be used in any type of paint.
I’ve Put my 3inch Kana though it’s passes in the last few weeks. it’s had a few hot days with Dulux Weathershield, more warm days with barnpaint, a fair amount of undercoating, fair number of ceilings with coving and today painted my outside bar with cuprinol shades. It even works well with stain and varnish.
I’m very happy with it and still acts as though it’s a new brush. I have had 5 bristles come out so far in the last few weeks, which is minimul. It holds a good amount of paint, distribution is perfect and it holds its shape. I’d be happy to never buy another Picasso, Purdy, Hamilton, Blaze, Wooster and the all the others again. (Well apart from Nour).
Good if you like hairs on your wall, surpose its OK to paint ya fence if you throw it away after
The professional ones are ok, they used to be branded “westministers” back in the day. I think the premier kana brushes are actually a lot better however they are a little more expensive, they are almost like the monarch elites from Purdy.