Jen Mfg, Sponge Brush: Black Sponge on Natural Wood Handle, 1 Inch

This is the first time I've ever used a foam brush and I am very pleasantly surprised. They are very firm yet pliable, and they hold an amazing amount of liquid. The nice wood handle is easy and comfortable to hold and because it is not slippery, it provides an excellent gripping surface offering very good control. The foam is cut very accurately down to a very thin tip which lets you apply your paint very precisely and evenly. It's worth repeating that you don't have to keep "filling" these brushes with paint or liquid as frequently as you do with hair brushes. These brushes are disposable but they are so nice to use that it hurts to throw them away when you are done using one of them. I'm not looking back, and like another reviewer said, I will definitely be making sure that I buy Jen foam brushes next time. Very highly recommended.

I use a lot these JEN poly brushes around the woodshop for applying oil finishes and other disposable work. Good foam, sturdy handles, and you can't beat the price of the 48-pack. At least until this last order. 6 week delay for fulfillment, and then received ONE brush. Product page now implies one brush instead of a pack of 48, and now calls this a "closeout item". Time to find a different supplier or product.

A great buy in bulk if you need many, after all they are disposable. Same brush, or better, and beats a buck apiece, or so, at the local hardware or marine store. I find foam brushes great for marine varnish. These are not wimpy; they have good body and usually last through an entire varnish coat, although some paints seem to break them down. I keep the 1" and 2" around. The 1" seems to have a finer tip, so good for details, corners, etc., and 2" for larger areas. I also have been using 3" closed foam 'sausage' rollers for large flat areas, roll and tipping with foam brushes. Helps to avoid holidays, especially on the first couple of coats. At this time there doesn't seem to be any discounting on these rollers, about a dollar apiece everywhere, including Amazon.

Jen Mfg brushes were great, a nice tight foam with excellent support built into the brush. The last two orders of brushes that were supposed to be Jen brushes have been a big disappointment. The foam is a larger, more open cell foam that bends very easily with a support piece halfway up the brush. Getting a nice smooth lay of poly off these brushes is near to impossible. It just does not flow off the brush nicely. It stays in the brush and if you add a little pressure to make it flow, little chunks of black foam end up in your finish. What happened Jen? Have you outsourced your product line? The quality has gone down the tubes here. I would like Jen Mfg to contact me, I would love to talk with them. I have enjoyed the last 4 years using many hundreds of their brushes and this is a disaster in my toy building.

48 brushes for $5 is a good buy no matter how you use them but these are not Jen brushes. These are the cheaper quality brushes found at the big box stores. I had almost given up on foam brushes before trying the Jen product. Jen brushes are the best and always have "Jen" marked on the handle, these have no such markings.

There are very few cons to this brush. The brush stays the way it should and does not bend and the tip is firm. I do like the wooden handle. It comes in a plastic resealable bag which is very convenient. I used this product to spread wood dye on curly maple. I also used the brush to apply polyurethane. I will use these brushes as much as I can they hold up well. I also ordered the 2 inch brushes. They are $1.48 a piece at the hardware store. You can’t beat the bulk price.

Since discovering foam brushes, I now rarely use bristle brushes. I purchased 1" and 2" foam brushes and was thrilled to discover when I received them, that they came in a large box full of them.I use them to apply paint to door trims, baseboards, and door insets. I've just completed a huge project involving stair railings and stair retro-tread. After staining the wood which should be applied with a soft cloth, I applied 4 coats of polyurethane using these foam brushes, for a perfect finish. There are no resulting brush marks, just a smooth finish.Because they are so incredibly affordable, there is no messy brush cleaning. While waiting for the various paint or polyurethane to dry, I just discard the used foam brushes and use new ones for additional coats.It is wise to make a practice run before using foam brushes for the first time because foam brushes hold more paint than a paint brush. More paint is applied to the wood and should be applied one-directionally.I also use them for touch-ups.

This review is really about the box that they come in which is really a waste of cardboard and paper (before you flame me and say this is not the right venue, I mean the product box not the Amazon shipping box) . They came packed in a flat box four layers of 12 each with heavy paper separating them. Not sure who the target market is for this but I don't find this useful at all, unless you have shelf space to lay it flat without anything on top of it I don't think it's going to work for you. I put them in a gallon baggie and threw the box in the recycle. If this was the only issue I wouldn't be writing this but they also put a UPC sticker on the foam of each brush. Again, not sure who they are aiming at (perhaps resellers?), but I don't find it useful to pull the label off of each one before I use it (or in my case before I repackage it for storage). As far as the brushes go I would have rated them 5 star as they are what I expected: cheap, foam brushes that I can throw away after each use not a lot else to say about them.