OT: Window glazing putty removal tool

Background: I have an 83-year-old house with wood-framed windows, and I'm on my second round of replacing putty in some of them. I've done around 30 windows, including the two-timers, plus 15 or so storm windows. I've never broken a pane of glass but I've buggered and scratched some up pretty good trying to use a router. Bad tool for the job, IMO.

I have tried about everything and I'm now down to two methods, depending on the condition of the window. If the putty is kind of loose I use a half-circle saw in a Fein Tool Multimaster, which costs something like $175 and is not necessary. Let's scratch that one unless you really want an excuse to buy a Fein Tool.

The other method, which really works in every circumstance I've encountered, is to use a heat gun and a stiff, sharp putty knife. Here's how I avoid cracking the glass:

I use a wide opening on the heat gun and heat the glass slowly, working over the whole pane at once in big sweeping circles and figure-8s. I start with the gun about a foot away and work in to 6 inches or so. I might take four or five minutes heating a big pane; two minutes heating a small one.

As the glass heats up I GRADUALLY start focusing on the edges of the pane. But never completely. I keep sweeping it quickly over the whole pane to keep it very warm. One surprise to me is that you don't really have to get the putty very hot. Once it reaches a critical temperature it starts coming off easily with the putty knife.

Now, you may try it and crack every pane in the house. I guess it takes the right touch and timing, but it's been foolproof for me, over a period of

25 years or so. I've taught a couple of neighbors how to do it and they've had the same success. I have tried using a piece of corrugated cardboard to block the heat from the pane and work locally at the edges, but I don't trust it and it's a low slower.

Good luck. And remember, a pane or two of glass is pretty cheap, if it comes to that.

-- Ed Huntress

Look at the Prazzi Putty Chaser, or the clones of it for a rapid heat free putty removal option.

"Pete C." wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@snet.net:

I actually have a Harbor Freight Clone, somewhere....... Got it during a clearance sale for a couple of bucks 6 monthes back. I was planning on trying it but for the life of me I cannot find where I put it now that I want it!!! I went back to HF to see about getting another and it looks like they don't have it anymore. I then started looking online at the local big box outfits and didn't seem to find them there either. I did start finding a bunch of complaints about the Prazzi version so I decided that maybe it was better that I didn't find the HF version I do have.

I did see a bunch of info on either heating the putty knife or using heat on the window itself which is why I thought if I could find the actual tool designed as a heated putty knife for this purpose it might save me a bunch of frustration and time.

Bill

As I said, I've tried just about everything for this job, including turning and grinding a steel knife-shaped tip for my 350W soldering iron.

It didn't break the bond between the old putty and the window frame very well. In fact, it seemed to re-weld it. But I didn't try it for very long before giving up on it.

-- Ed Huntress

I was in the paint business for a few years, where I sold glass and repaired broken windows that people brought in. My main tool was an electric heater in the shape of an "L." (The "L" shape was for corners.) You simply laid it on the glass against the putty. The only problem I ever had was once when the phone rang, and I left it "for just a minute." The call lasted longer than I expected, and when I came back the frame was ablaze.

I also sometimes used a tool-room grinder with a 1/4" burr. The thing generated enough heat to soften the putty and throw it out of the way, You have to be careful not to let it get into the wood frame, though.

There's gonna be metal content in the tools used...

Having a 90 something year old house in a historic district, I've tried just about everything you could think of to remove old glazing. My tool of choice now is an almost sharp 1/2" wood chisel.

"RoyJ" wrote: (clip) Only way to go is with a heavy duty heat gun. Only way

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Only way? Seems to me that a few people (including me) have listed *other ways.*

According to Bill :

Sorry -- I don't know a good answer to your question, though you have a lot of others, so hopefully some of them will help.

[ ... ]

Unfortunately -- you used OT: not plain OT or [OT].

As a result, the first person with Outlook Express to followup to your posting took "OT: " to be the same as "RE: " (except perhaps in some unknown language), and thus stripped it off and replaced it with "RE: "

This is why using a ':' after the "OT" is a bad idea. Take a look at the thread. You'e got two branches, one which retains the "OT: " and one which does not.

Thanks, DoN.

Here's a good general article about this very subject, written by a fella who makes a living restoring windows.

<

Pete