Probably a dumb question, but...

[kevinmoelk]

I was wondering about a chimney brush. I have an opportunity to purchase a new set off of craigslist for a good price. Includes 18 feet of rod. The brush however is an 8" and I need a 6". Surely I can buy a new brush, but I'm wondering if I can just trim the brush down to the 6" diameter. Any thoughts?

-Kevin

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Seems like an awful lot of work. I would also be afraid that I trimmed it too short and missed creosote.

How much could you actually save this way? Lowes had a 6" round brush for somehting like $15. 4ft lengths of fiberglass rod were just over $4 at True Value. When you look at shipping for something on Ebay I bet you have a hard time beating local prices on this.

Matt

 

[BrotherBart]

I was wondering about a chimney brush. I have an opportunity to purchase a new set off of craigslist for a good price. Includes 18 feet of rod. The brush however is an 8" and I need a 6". Surely I can buy a new brush, but I'm wondering if I can just trim the brush down to the 6" diameter. Any thoughts?

-Kevin

A six inch poly brush is $13 from ACE Hardware. Why spend an hour hacking off bristles? And then find out you hacked off too much and have to go buy one.

Experience speaking here.

 

[kevinmoelk]

A six inch poly brush is $13 from ACE Hardware. Why spend an hour hacking off bristles? And then find out you hacked off too much and have to go buy one.

Experience speaking here.

LOL, so you've attempted this BB? I thought maybe I was the only crazy one.

Well, this craigslist deal sounds pretty good, I can get the whole thing for $10. But I suppose I should do a litle leg work around town and see what's out there.

I don't think it would be that difficult to trim the brush however. My initial thought was to use a 6" stove pipe piece and set the brush against the pipe, using the pipe as a cutting guide. Still, it probably would be hard to get straight, lol. Maybe if I get the set up I'll give it a shot and report back. The worst that can happen is that I have to buy a new brush.

Has anyone done the brush trimming successfully? Get your mind out of the gutters fellas!

-Kevin

 

[MountainStoveGuy]

get some 7 inch stove pipe, get it hot, and melt it to the size you need. Of course this will only work with nylon, if you have steel, have fun triming that... i would just buy the darn brush.

 

[pistonslap]

I say go for it. The 16 bucks you save buys you a case of beer. If 99% of us weren't doing this to save money, we would be having the butler turning up the thermostat on the gas furnace. lol.

 

[coldinnj]

Wrench: I did the trimming thing with a wire brush... No fun, pain in the a** to do, I didn't have a choice as I needed to do it right then and no one locally had the right size brush. I would not reccomend it but if you want to here is one method.
First measure it a little oversize.
Second use a straight edge and make many marks on the wire at the cutt off points several layers in (nail polish works good for wire)
Third start cutting straight accross
As you get a few rows in, having a strong light behind it, you can then use your eye to match the length rather then remeasure.
Remember this MEASURE TWICE /// CUT ONCE, the opposite wont work
As the wires are so springy the only method I found viable for cutting them was snips / wire cutters. Even tried using a vise and power tool. Setup time was not worth it. Good luck