Refinishing Wood Sash. Stripping The Flats with a Paint Shaver, ProScraper and an Orbital Sander

The first step, regardless of what anyone else says, in refinishing an historic wood window sash is to strip the flats. What are the flats? They are just what the word sounds like - the flat, unprofiled surfaces. Strip the flats to be able to chip out the glazing, to be able to get out the glass, to be able to heat gun the profiles. You have to heat gun the profiles in order to strip the paint off for refinishing, but you can’t do it with the glass in the way. You have to reset the glass anyway, might as well take it out now. To do that, strip the flats. Doing this sets up the conditions most advantageous for removing the glass. You don’t have to do it this way. But you might want to. Fair warning. Paint Shaver is a beast and can destroy a lot of work fast. It’s not for everyone.