Use A Heat Gun Like This To Strip Old Paint From Wood Window Sash Profiles

Steve, at the July 2022 Total Window Makeover Course in San Antonio demonstrating how the heat gun works to remove paint from the delicate wood profiles on a typical wood window sash.

[@barryallenporter8127]

Heat is great on thick paint that hasn’t fully dried. What can be done on ancient old oil paint that’s so thin amd dry you can’t get it to melt? I’m having a lot of trouble scraping it without gouging the profiles, or getting it off the convex curves

[@WoodWindowMakeover]

I think the hint is contained in the thin and dry part. If it’s that thin and dry, I’d try a sanding block (no hand sanding without a block!) on the flat parts. If that works I’d try that.

[@barryallenporter8127]

@@WoodWindowMakeover That was my thought too, was concerned about dust. Maybe just wear a p100 and keep the vac hose in my other hand?

[@WoodWindowMakeover]

@@barryallenporter8127 yeah man. P100s are the way to go. Too bad they don’t eliminate vehicle exhaust

[@ikust007]

@@WoodWindowMakeover yeah. Also question :
If there is still a thin layer but we will anyway put a oil based paint …? Isn’t ok?

[@barryallenporter8127]

@@ikust007 encapsulation is a fine method of dealing with the paint. Ultimately it’s just whatever you’re comfortable looking at

[@ikust007]

Question : why not the Cobra or the one from Scott at Craftsman? To show it’s possible with low cost tool ?

[@WoodWindowMakeover]

One reason is to show people how to do the work with tools that aren’t so esoteric. The Cobra is good but it costs $500. The way I do it shows people how to get started with all the tools they need for under $100. Then if they remain interested and they want to go get a more advanced tool, they have might have the money and the incentive to buy something like a Cobra.

[@ikust007]

@@WoodWindowMakeover that’s what I thought . I don’t have a cobra because of …$$
That’s why I was looking at the tool from The Craftsman blog. Made in China for sure but 100$ I think . And it’s infrared.

[@austntexan]

@@ikust007 If you're doing more than a couple of sashes, I'd think building a steambox would be much easier and cheaper. Then, you could spend $$ on getting a good set of profile scrapers. I've built a hotbox(steambox) out of standard insulation from a bigbox store to work as a curing box for a composite project I had. Worked like a charm. Super cheap and very effective.

[@ikust007]

@@austntexan thank you ! How did you provide the steam…