Oil proof brush?

I buy the cheapest packs of paint brushes from the local DIY shop and I class them as "consumable products". Whether used for painting or brushing swarf, it's not really worth the effort of cleaning or restoring them when a pack of 6 is less than £3. So bin them.

I buy the sets of brushes sold in larger supermarkets for children's arts and crafts projects. They contain a selection of brushes of suitable size for clearing swarf from machines in the workshop and the bristles are of a synthetic material that resists oil and solvents. There are often a couple of sponges on sticks that I find handy for some jobs. These sets are not expensive - usually a couple of quid.

The OP's brush looks identical to the cheap ones I use to clean oil and swarf. I found that regardless of the brush quality they all pick up swarf and as I do a lot of brass, also fine brass needles. I decided to stich with the cheap and throw away more often simply to save cuts and scratches.

Elmo

I purchased 10 brushes from David Colwill (A1 Factors, Nottingham). They arrived this morning and for less than 50p each, they are excellent. Just been using one and can confirm David's claim.

Andrew.

I buy cheap Chinese brushes at the paint department of a DIY store. The bristles of most paint brushes are too long to move swarf effectively so I give my brushes a haircut.

I don't buy new brushes, however cheap, just for cleaning machine-tools!

My swarf brushes are old paint-brushes too worn to give the right grade of brush-marks and runs in gloss.

I did buty new though, a cheap toy plastic spade with a blade about 3 inches square and handle maybe eight long, and it proved as I'd hoped, an ideal chip-tray " dustpan ".

I have a small garden tool like a 4 pronged claw for dragging masses of long tangeled chips out of the chip pan. I use a margin trowel with a rectangular blade about 2 1/2" x 4" to scrape the fine chips into a dustpan. I haven't considered using old paint brushes for swarf. Either they are too good for that use or were improperly cleaned and are a near solid block of hardened paint.

Ian, that is interesting regarding the viton o rings. I remember hearing about potential dangers of working on equipment containing viton which had been exposed to high temperatures or fire.