Historical Note
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Brushing Up On Bristles Brushes are among the many familiar objects we use in our daily lives. From paintbrushes, to hairbrushes, toothbrushes, and lint brushes, they all require different types of bristles to perform their tasks. Evidence for the use of brushes as early as the Paleolithic period, 2.5 million years ago, comes in the form of prehistoric paintings in the Perigord caves in France and the Altamira caves in Spain. One of the earliest brushes—the besom broom— consisted of a bundle of twigs tied to a wooden handle. Other civilizations improved on this early model by incorporating corn husks and tassels. At the beginnings of recorded history, the early Egyptians used vegetable fiber brushes to create their elaborate tomb paintings. In the Far East, the ancient Chinese developed calligraphy into a fine art by using the tip of a long-haired brush and black ink to paint intricate characters. Brush bristles can be made from animal
hair, plant fibers, or (in modern times) synthetic materials. Technically, a "bristle" is the stiff, uncurled back or neck hair from a wild pig. Such bristle brushes were widely used for centuries to apply paint, varnish, and enamel. Pig bristle brushes are also used for some tooth and hair brushes, as well as for industrial and household brushes. The first hair-bristle brushes were small swatches of animal fur; later, bundles of hog hairs were tied to sticks to provide more flexibility and control over the tip. Bristle brushes were improved further by setting tufts of hair into holes in a stick, then holding them in place with pitch. Only older pigs and hogs produce abundant bristles with the length, texture, structure, and flexibility needed for use in brushes. In the United States, bristles must be imported because domestic pigs are raised primarily for meat and slaughtered while they are still too young to
produce bristles. The United States is the world's chief market for pig bristles. Before its 1917 revolution, Russia was the chief exporter of bristles. The sudden change in agricultural economy, however, caused Russian bristles to vanish from the world market, to be replaced by Chinese supplies. China had a great advantage because of a semiwild strain of pigs within its borders, as well as an abundance of cheap labor to strip bristles from a hide. In recent years, Russian sources have once again begun to provide a significant supply. The texture of bristles ranges from coarse and stiff to soft and supple. Bristles come in various shades of white, gray, brown, yellow, or black, and may be spotted. They can be as short as two inches (5 cm) or less, or as long as six inches (15 cm). Bristles are thickest at the flesh end, tapering in diameter toward the outer end, where they divide into two or more fine strands. The frayed end, called the "flag," is very useful because the fine strands are particularly suitable for holding and smoothly applying paints, varnishes, enamels, and other protective
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