****I am a product tester for Bates Choice and receive many items from the company, including these foam paintbrushes. That having been said, I am still very honest about my reviews and try to help people considering buying these things, and try to write reviews in a way that helps me when I'm looking to buy (or avoid) certain products.****Bates Choice has sent me many things to test out, and among those things they've sent me many of their foam brushes. I love these! I really like how these work with stain - they hold quite a bit of stain in the foam and it's easy to control the flow of staining depending on how hard or soft you press down. In general I prefer bristled brushes for painting, but these are great for jamming paint into small corners and holes in wood. A friend of mine and I make Bigfoots out of plywood to sell, and these foam brushes are a wonderful tool to reach the nooks and crannies of the wood (I don't know what a "nook" or "crannie" is, but trust me, it reaches them).One negative thing I've found is that the foam head can pull off of the handle a little more easily than it should, but when it does it's usually because I'm violently jabbing and literally lose my head in the process. They stay on well for more normal painting, so it's not really an issue. I do like that when I've mashed the sponge into oblivion that I can collect the dowel handles and build small log cabin birdhouses with them. I use my hot glue gun to fix the heads on that I really don't want coming off during one of my stabbing sprees.Brass tacks:•Great value!•Many different sizes for various jobs.•They don't leave tracks like bristled brushes - I've painted against the grain with these to test and I can't tell when it's dry what direction I painted.•Decent for paint, but particularly good for stains and spreading wood glue.Another five-star item from Bates Choice that I highly recommend.
