dependent for existence, occurrence, character, etc., on something not yet certain; conditional (often followed by on or upon): Our plans are contingent on the weather. 2. liable to happen or not; uncertain; possible: They had to plan for contingent expenses.
But they don't do a worse job, either. Sure, expensive bristle brushes allow you to spread the varnish out smoothly, but so does a forty nine cent foam brush. So it makes sense to use the lowest-tech, least expensive tool to do the job.
Types of paint brushes. The two distinctly different types of brushes for oil painting are bristle and sable. Bristle brushes. While all brushes have bristles, it's the stiffer hog's hair brushes that are referred to as bristle brushes.