Stripping Paint from a Wood Window Sash with a Harbor Freight Heat Gun

So my go to method for restoring a #woodwindow sash is to strip the flats, sand the flats, chip out the glazing compound and remove the glass so I can get to this point - heat gun the profiles.
The hardest thing to communicate about this step I think is that the reason we go through all the trouble to get to this point is that in the end, we can PROTECT THE PROFILES! And the reason we remove the glass is so we can get tools in the right spots to strip the paint without scratching up or breaking glass, and so that we can get the heat gun in there at this angle to GENTLY REMOVE THE PAINT FROM THE PROFILES.
Who wants to get all the way to this point only to take a rough piece of sandpaper, or even worse, a sanding machine and use it in a way so that it removes all the detail from the profile? Nobody!!!! So don’t do it!!!!
Anyway, now that I’ve gotten my little rant out of the way, check out this little clip - it’s meant to be an introduction to the concept of how I do it, not a detailed step by step. I assume you are smart enough to look at the tools I am using and say, “ah, I like that” or “naah, that’s not for me.”
Either way, this method has been effective for me for years and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg to start using. It’s a low budget, low risk, potentially highly productive technique. And just so you know, “highly productive” is both relative to what you think productivity actually is, relative to the amount of practice you want to put in. Maybe you don’t want to practice. That’s fine. Maybe someday someone will invent another, better way at mastering a movement than actually practicing it, but until then….
Remember, the skill is in the person, not the tool.
With much love,
Steve
#woodwindowmakeover #ArtisanArmy #heatgun @harborfreight

[@SignorAveya]

Very nice content, thank you for sharing!

[@Sw4mpd0nkey]

I see that sometimes you use a steam box and other times use the heat gun. What makes you decide?

[@WoodWindowMakeover]

I don’t use a steam box nearly as often as it might seem. It’s probably more accurate to ask, under what circumstance would I feel it necessary to bust out the steam box. That circumstance would be when I have many multiple sash from which to remove the glass, so many that it would probably take me a day or two.
I might choose the steam box then because I could be doing other things while the steamer is cooking and I could just stop for five minutes or so, deglaze a sash and stick another batch in there. Another case when I might bust it out is when a sash is loaded with caulking and to not use steam would mean major glass breakage. But most of the time it’s dry technique for me.

[@Sw4mpd0nkey]

@@WoodWindowMakeover thank you very much for all the information you provide. It's been a huge help for me and I've been able to fix a lot of my windows in my home. Wish I had someone like you local!
Also, you still sell sashes? I thought I saw a while ago that you had a store on your website that sold them.

[@WoodWindowMakeover]

@@Sw4mpd0nkey glad to help where I can. I no longer make and ship sashes - that is right.