To Catch a Criminal

"Grab your gear", barked Federal Agent, Leroy Jethro Gibbs, to his team, played by actor Mark Harmon, from the CBS hit television show, NCIS, "we have a dead marine". Any crime scene, whether it be a murder or a robbery requires an investigation. The science used to help solve crimes is called forensic science. The investigation is designed to uncover evidence that can be used to identify the victim or the suspects perpetrating the crime. The evidence can take on many forms, including: the murder weapon, gun shells, gun residue, body fluids (DNA), and fingerprints, to name a few.

Fingerprints are one of the oldest and most common types of physical evidence found at a crime scene. Fingerprints are left behind almost every time something is touched. Since every person has a unique set of prints, they are a great tool for identification.

Some fingerprints are visible; you can see marks left on a surface by dirty or oily fingers. Dusting is usually used for this type. Other prints are latent; you can't see them, but there are marks left by sweat, amino acids, and other organic residue from fingers.

In recovering latent impressions there are numerous products available for the task. One of the conventional methods is called mechanical development. Mechanical development is the use of a brush and powder to physically dust the surface. This technique allows the particles of the powder to adhere to contaminates. The mechanical development is for nonporous items and surfaces.

Gordon Brush® manufactures three types of brushes for recovering latent impressions: (1) Fiberglass (super fine for soft brushing action); (2) Natural hair (Squirrel, Goat, horse hair); (3) Feather brush (are made with the finest Marabou feathers to easily dust powder or fine particles from the area of interest).

Rest assured that, if you commit a crime, Gordon Brush's most wanted line of forensic and fingerprint brushes will be used to land you on law enforcements most wanted list.

With over 17,000 different kinds of brushes for every industry imaginable, Gordon Brush's premium line of American made stock or custom brushes will do the job for which they are intended™. If a brush exists, we have it…if it doesn't, we'll make it!

Gordon Brush®, the First Brush Company to Employ Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Gordon Brush® manufactures over 3,500 stock brush products. So how do you choose the perfect brush for your specific application or project? Well, you need an expert, and Gordon Brush® has built one into its eCommerce site. Gordon Brush's brush selector WIZARD uses artificial intelligence; by asking you a few questions, the Wizard will make product recommendations for your specific application or project with friction-free "add to cart" buttons. Gordon Brush's AI enhances the customer experience by acting as a recommendation engine saving the customer time and making the purchasing experience fast and easy.

The WIZARD will allow the user, who may not know what type or kind of brush he/she is looking for, to find their desired industrial brush fast and easy, within a few clicks.  "You don't need to know anything about brushes," said Ken Rakusin, President and CEO, "to be able to find the brush for your specific need."  "The WIZARD makes it possible for the end user to select any of the 15 brush criteria (attributes) to quickly and easily narrow their selection criteria to find their ideal match," notes Alan Schechter, Vice President Sales & Marketing. Our American made brush makers want to make your online shopping that much easier.

The brush selector WIZARD is an enhancement to the company's amazing website that features a powerful "Multi-Dynamic Faceted Navigation" search feature and an updated eCommerce platform for an easy, secure, fast, safe, and reliable check-out. If a brush exists, we have it…if it doesn't, well make it! And if it does, Gordon Brush's brush selector WIZARD, powered by AI, will help you identify it faster and easier.

Gordon Brush Attending 2019 Made in America Convention

The inaugural, 2019 MADE IN AMERICA convention will be held at the Indiana Convention Center on October 3rd-6th, 2019. The organizers of this monumental event are projecting an attendance of over 30,000 patriots interested on aligning with the goal of raising the economic importance of American Manufacturing. According to Don Buckner, founder, Made In America.com, "the convention will celebrate US manufacturing in a way that's never been done before".

The convention will feature over 800 companies showcasing American manufacturing and American made products. There will also be a slate of cutting-edge educational sessions, high-level keynote addresses, and panel discussions featuring manufacturing specialists and professionals from key segments of the manufacturing community. Made In America 2019's audience will consist of consumers, media, industry professionals, government, and advocates.

Gordon Brush Mfg. Co., Inc. is Proud To Be An American Manufacturer™ and a GOLD sponsor of the 2019 MADE IN AMERICA convention. "I feel that it is important for Gordon Brush® to show strong support for this event that will celebrate American manufacturers and American made goods. That is why I decided to exhibit and be a Gold sponsor", said Ken Rakusin, president and CEO. "We've said for many years now that patriotism is paramount at Gordon Brush®. Even under competitive threats, such low-cost Chinese knock-offs and counterfeit goods, the Company has been steadfast in its philosophy and commitment to manufacturing in the United States. Gordon Brush never considered off-shore manufacturing to become more price competitive.  Our American made products give us the ability to display our patriotism and pride and to create feelings of goodwill when our customers receive American-made items", added Rakusin.

The Company is the recipient of the prestigious 2018 Made: In America Award, which recognizes outstanding achievements by an American manufacturing company. To qualify, companies are vetted for their best business practices placing them at the top of their respective industries. Each is required to make an in-depth submission detailing their commitment to ongoing manufacturing and job creation in the United States.

The award, given annually by the Washington, DC headquartered nonprofit MADE: In America™, was presented on Tuesday, July 3, 2018 on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, to company President and CEO Ken Rakusin, in the inaugural All American Room, making its national debut in the Rayburn House Office Building Foyer.

According to MADE: In America Chairman, James De Lorbe, "Gordon Brush is a truly singular company not only in its industry but in the United States. Mr. Rakusin’s leadership and track record in not only sustaining but growing a long-established company here in the United States throughout a turbulent period of ever-increasing pressures to ship production overseas, represents a significant and exemplary contribution to our Nation deserving the highest order of recognition."

"Winning the prestigious MADE: In America award is an amazing honor and accomplishment for Gordon Brush. Even under competitive threats, the Company has been steadfast in its philosophy and commitment to manufacturing in the United States", said Rakusin. "In spite of many issues, I was determined to build and grow my business in the United States by re-investing profits into the purchase of millions of dollars in manufacturing equipment and machinery; pride in contributing to the American economy is near-and-dear to my heart", further proclaimed Rakusin.

Gordon Brush® has been featured on the ION Network, Discovery Channel, Bloomberg News, The Real Talk Show, The Today Show, and in the Los Angeles Times. Come see America's favorite industrial brush manufacturer at this year's convention and see first hand what we are made of. 

Learning More About Scratch Brushes

One of the most common types of brushes that many people are likely to have, either for personal or industrial use, is called a scratch brush. Scratch brushes are lightweight, ergonomic, handheld brushes that come in a wide range of shapes, styles, fill materials, bristle lengths, and sizes. These scratch brushes are also available with wood or plastic handles.
 Gordon Brush® has a full line of hand held scratch brushes to meet all of your applications. When selecting your scratch brush, you can choose from a number of ergonomic handle styles. From curved wooden handles to wide, block-style handles, the right option can make any job more comfortable.
 Wire scratch brushes are a favorite tool for many occupations. These scratch brushes are ideal for plating processes and fine metal finishing work and can help ease tough jobs like removing rust, paint, and grease, as well as cleaning threads and files. When you are working with old, corroded, or dirty surfaces, scratch brushes can make the job easier. The heavy-duty bristles help you remove years of damage on wood or metal. Steel wire brushes are a common and essential tool in any metal fabrication shop. These brushes can be used for a variety of applications, including weld cleaning, deburring, rust and oxide removal, surface preparation, and surface finishing.
 Natural hair scratch brushes are essential in the electronic industry. Gordon Brush® manufactures many different types of ESD scratch brushes that can safely clean PCBs (printed circuit boards) and other electrical components prone to damage from ESD (electrostatic discharge). ESD safe scratch brushes are designed to dust PCBs and other static-sensitive items from which particles must be safely removed. These specially developed brushes are ideal for cleaning delicate components, integrated circuits and workstation surfaces. They can also be used for cleaning computer backplanes and motherboards or brushing down workstations and anti-static mats.

Made in the United States, Gordon Brush's line of standard/stock scratch brushes are crafted with exacting specifications. If you cannot find the exact brush for your need, Gordon Brush® can customize a scratch brush to suit your application. If a brush exists, we have it…If it doesn't, we'll make it!

The Madness Behind Miniature Brushes

There is nothing small about Gordon Brush's wide array of miniature brushes. Gordon Brush®, a leading American manufacturer of stock and custom industrial brushes, is proud to offer miniature brushes for a multitude of uses and applications. In general, miniature brushes are used for ultra-fine finishing, deburring, reaming, polishing and internal cleaning applications, in hard to reach areas, or where fine detailing is desired. We also offer a range of highest quality artist’s brushes used for painting fine art to painting miniatures.

The best for painting Miniature brushes can be broken down into the following categories:

Micro Spiral Brushes: are often used for thread cleaning, deburring, edge blending and more. They are extremely effective when cleaning small tubes and areas that are unreachable with standard spiral brushes. Gordon Brush® offers three types of micro brushes: Abrasive Micro Spiral Brushes; Micro Spiral Miniature Brushes; and Thread Cleaning Brushes. These miniature brushes are available with multiple types of brush diameters and fill material.

Mini Applicator Brushes: are for applying glues or solvents. These brushes are available with horsehair, brass, stainless steel, nylon, and other fill materials. Stainless steel applicator brushes have excellent chemical resistance and effectively stand up to the toughest jobs.

Miniature Artist Brushes: are used to create fine precise details that match your artistic standards. Our selection includes miniature artist brushes that are the best for painting miniatures, blending watercolors, stenciling and painting on silk. These brushes are available in a broad range of sizes and lengths.

Mini Flow Thru Brushes: are the optimal solution for a controlled application of glues, paints, dyes, solvents and other liquids. Gordon Brush® stocks mini flow thru brushes in several distinctive styles with high-quality fill materials such as nylon, camel, and red sable.

Miniature Instrument Cleaning Brushes: are ideal for cleaning instruments that involve tight spaces. Gordon Brush's mini instrument cleaning brushes are offered with static dissipative, (safe to use with electronics), nylon, horsehair, or hog bristle fill material.

Miniature Paddle Brushes: are designed to clean and polish blind threaded holes, tubes and cylinders. The bristles on these versatile mini brushes are made with stainless or carbon steel and are designed to minimize flexing. As an added benefit, the brush holders help extend the length of the brush, so you can clean hard-to-reach spaces.

Miniature Vacuum Brushes: can be used to clean the crevices on a keyboard or removing dust from data ports requiring a mini brush that’s small enough for the job. Miniature vacuum brushes clean in areas that larger vacuum brushes simply can’t fit into. Gordon Brush's miniature vacuum brushes feature ¼” trim length and ¼” inlet diameter.

Miniature Metal Free Brushes are perfect for sterilizing, cleaning and disinfecting plastics. They also provide an ideal solution for cleaning the inside of straight and curved plastic pipes and tubes. Gordon Brush® can customize a miniature metal free brush to be used to clean valves and fittings, or any application where aggressive scrubbing is required, and where surface scratching must be avoided.

Even though they might be miniature brushes, Gordon Brush® has Bigger, Better, Brush Ideas™. Contact us today to get the best for painting utensils by ordering a stock or custom miniature brush right here. Shop our website or call us on 800-950-7950 for more information.
If a brush exists, we have it…if it doesn't, we'll make it!

A Sweeping Success Story

CITY OF INDUSTRY, CA -- by By Graeme Golucki of ISSA.com In 2018, Gordon Brush Mfg. Co., Inc. was named the recipient of the MADE: In America Award™. Gordon Brush® was one of only four winners of the annual award, which recognizes outstanding achievements by an American manufacturing company. The award was bestowed on the heels of the company receiving a Certificate of Congressional Recognition as part of the U.S. House of Representatives’ Make It In America initiative. The House established the program in 2010 to encourage private sector job creation nationwide. Not only did Gordon Brush receive national recognition for its participation in the program, U.S. Representative Grace Napolitano (D-CA) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) visited its 183,000-square-foot manufacturing complex in the City of Industry, CA, to personally bestow the honor upon the company for actively promoting the American manufacturing industry.

These two honors are the culmination of Gordon Brush’s decades of developing and producing premium quality American made brushes and brooms. Though the company was established in the 1950s, its product portfolio includes brands whose history dates as far back as the 1800s.  Ken Rakusin, President & CEO of Gordon Brush, holding a Congressional Recognition Certificate.

Gordon Brush was founded by Don Gordon (hence the name) and experienced moderate success manufacturing specialty brushes during the next few decades. In 1973, aerospace engineer William Loitz purchased the company from Gordon. Loitz maintained the company’s steady growth for the next 15 years or so. Faced with a bit of a rough patch, Loitz brought in Ken Rakusin to help right the ship. Rakusin previously had a successful career with Xerox; he immediately began turning the company around and eventually purchasing the company in 1998.

Gordon Brush began making a series of acquisitions that set the company on a pathway to prosperity.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (green tie), flanked by Rakusin and Congresswoman Grace Napolitano, meets with the Gordon Brush staff.

Historic acquisitions

Under Rakusin’s leadership, Gordon Brush began making a series of acquisitions that set the company on a pathway to prosperity, starting with the purchase of the Marx Brush line of artist and cosmetic brushes in 1999. Six years later, Gordon Brush purchased Milwaukee Dustless Brush, a janitorial and sanitation brush manufacturer that had been in business since the 1890s. “Milwaukee Dustless Brush was established in 1897 as the name implies, in Milwaukee, WI,” said Alan Schechter, vice president of marketing for Gordon Brush. “Milwaukee Dustless was one of the earliest, if not the first, manufacturers of commercial cleaning tools. It made a name for itself with a steel-backed brush head that featured an external socket with nearly infinite positions, something that to this day remains unique in the industry. While today it is now a part of Gordon Brush, we kept the brand name, because anyone in the industry who hasn’t been under a rock—or a brush— knows the Milwaukee Dustless name.”

Confronting challenges

Gordon Brush did not slow down after its acquisition of Milwaukee Dustless. The company continued to expand its product offerings through numerous acquisitions of specialty brush manufacturers. Earlier this year, the company purchased Spectrum Paint Applicator Corp., an American manufacturer of consumer paint brushes, paint rollers, and artist brushes, that wasfounded in 1945. And while the quantity of Gordon Brush’s equipment portfolio continued to grow through the years, one thing that did not shrink was the company’s commitment to quality.  “While other manufacturers may have consolidated, Gordon Brush has been able to thrive by delivering a premium line of durable products,” Schechter said. “On a daily basis, it feels as if we’re in a battle against low-cost, knockoff, and counterfeit manufacturers. This is one of the biggest challenges facing not just Gordon Brush, but the entire industry. We will never apologize for producing high-quality products or having premium pricing. We’re proud of the fact that at the end of the day, our customers receive a product they can be proud of and that can do the job for which it is intended for a long, long time.” According to Rakusin, not only is Gordon Brush committed to producing quality products, the company is also loyal to the people manufacturing these products. That employee loyalty is reciprocal and another crucial factor to the company’s continued success. “One of the reasons we’re so committed to remaining a U.S.-based manufacturer is our people,” Rakusin said. “There are employees both on our factory floor and in our administrative offices that have been here for more than four decades. Today, we’re the home-awayfrom-home for more than 150 workers. Some of these employees even have [now adult] children who have come to work for us. We joke that eventually we’re going to start employing workers’ grandchildren when they’re old enough. We endeavor ourselves to be extremely family oriented and that sense of communion has developed a great sense of pride in the products we manufacturer.”

Showing up at the show

In addition to quality products and a commitment to its employees, Schechter also credits Gordon Brush’s relationship with ISSA throughout the years as another rung on the company’s ladder of success. Gordon Brush is currently celebrating its 60th year as an ISSA member.  “It’s very simple; ISSA is the major trade organization of the industry,” Schechter said. “It’s a fantastic source of knowledge for everything impacting the janitorial industry, a great source for keeping up on current trends. We absolutely love the annual show (ISSA Show North America). Our employees relish the opportunity to attend and see old friends, our customers, and even our competitors. Even though we’ve been around for six decades, it is still important for Gordon Brush to have a presence at the show and be seen by the industry.” Schechter also is quick to point out that the ISSA Show is more than the show floor itself. “As exciting as working the booth can be, I have to say the keynote speakers have been phenomenal lately,” he said. “Howie Mandel was so funny a few years ago in [Las Vegas], I couldn’t stop laughing. And last year in Dallas, I was completely in awe of President George W. Bush. It was almost unbelievable to be not just in the same room as him, but at arm’s length from a former president as he delivered a phenomenal fireside chat. And there’s others through the years—boxer Sugar Ray Leonard, Kevin O’Leary from Shark Tank, the list goes on. ISSA goes above and beyond to make it a week to experience.”

Looking ahead

Although Gordon Brush has had a series of successes recently, Schechter is empathetic to many of the issues facing the cleaning industry today. “I do find it disturbing that many of the mom-and-pop type smaller manufacturers and distributors are going by the wayside, either being bought up or shutting their doors,” he said. “Consolidation has made it so the jansan world in some ways is no longer a cottage industry. Plus, the challenges of cheaper, lesser quality products have made it tougher to be competitive. But as long as we continue to be committed to employing quality people and manufacturing superior products, I have no doubt Gordon Brush will continue to thrive. Consumers will find that the bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low prices has been forgotten.”  Complete article available at: http://issatoday.issa.com/?issueID=51&pageID=28

Manufacturing Medical Brushes

Gordon Brush® manufactures a broad range of American made brushes for medical, dental, laboratory, medical cleanroom, and contract manufacturing applications.  Our vast array of stock brushes is used in neurological, orthopedic, spinal fixation, soft tissue fixation, bone fixation, implant prototyping, implant production and micro/minimally invasive device applications. In addition, surgical instrument cleaning brushes are used to clean endoscopes, as well as other instruments used in medical, dental and surgical procedures in hospitals, medical centers and veterinary clinics.

Gordon Brush's medical brushes are made with stainless steel stem wire and machined for optimum performance. Choose from a range of wire, natural and synthetic filaments for the abrasiveness and/or stiffness required by your critical cleaning applications. Gordon Brush® also offers a line of Metal Free brushes made with FDA compatible polypropylene. These Metal Free brushes are great to clean glassware or for other uses where a metal filament will damage the apparatus being cleaned.

Manual cleaning is recommended for delicate instruments and devices, such as microsurgical instruments, lensed instruments, power equipment and other instruments that can’t tolerate an automated cleaning process. If debris still remains on the instrument, then use a stainless-steel brush.

Stainless steel brushes are designed to remove debris, stains and stubborn bioburden that the nylon brush can’t remove. Stainless steel is intended to be used on bone files, needle holders, burrs, hemostats, reamers, scissors, serrated vascular instruments and orthopedic instruments.

For many orthopedic implants that are made from Titanium, it is imperative to use a Titanium brush to deburr the implant.  When a titanium part is brushed with a stainless-steel brush, small amounts of the stainless steel are abraded from the brush fiber and embedded in the surface of the titanium. The two dissimilar metals are physically bound. When moisture is added, the result is the creation of a battery and the start of galvanic corrosion.

Gordon Brush® also manufactures custom medical brushes. The Company customized a brush for a spinal surgery company to clear the disc space in preparation for a spinal fusion. Gordon Brush's line of Metal Free brushes can also be customized for your specific application.

Contact us today to order a stock or custom medical brush. Send us an email or call us at 800-950-7950. If a brush exists, we have it…if it doesn't, we'll make it!