what does brushing do in curling
Brushing in curling mainly controls how far the stone travels and how much it curls as it slides down the ice.
Core effects of brushing
- It slightly melts or polishes the pebble on the ice in front of the stone, reducing friction so the rock travels farther.
- By changing friction on one side of the stone’s path more than the other (different stroke angles, pressure, and positions), sweepers can make a rock curl a bit more or a bit less.
- Brushing also cleans debris from the ice, which helps the rock run truer instead of grabbing and taking an unpredictable path.
In practice, that means sweepers can:
- Keep a stone straighter and make it go farther for draws or hits that are coming up light.
- “Carve” or encourage extra curl in some modern techniques by focusing pressure on one side of the running path.
- Help the skip judge weight and line by how hard they need to brush or whether they need to brush at all.
So, brushing is how sweepers fine‑tune distance and curl after the stone is released—it’s the team’s last real control over the shot.