My hand brush is getting harder to find at supply houses

Went to three shops around Cleveland this month looking for a standard 6 inch hand brush with flagged bristles, and two of them only had the plastic handled junk. I keep seeing guys online recommend those cheap wire brushes for creosote scraping, but that stuff gouges the flue tile if you're not careful. Been doing this trade for about 14 years now, and the old wooden block brushes just last longer and flex better around offsets. Anyone else noticing supply houses phasing out the traditional gear, or is it just my area lagging behind?

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allen.reese20d ago

Three shops here in Pittsburgh are the same way, and I almost grabbed a plastic one by accident last week before my hand remembered the weight difference lol. I've been burning for 11 years and I still keep a spare wooden block brush in my truck because the new ones bend weird around the first offset and just don't spring back. The flagged bristles on the cheap ones shed like crazy too, I pulled half a brush out of a chimney last month and felt like an idiot explaining it to the homeowner. Grease and creosote don't care how fancy the handle is, but my wrists sure do after a long day. I guess we're just getting old and grumpy about tools, but I'm not giving up my wooden block until they pry it from my cold, sooty hands.