I have several wooden storm doors and storm windows which need to be repainted and have the glazing putty repaired. What is the best way to remove the old putty?
I've been digging it out with a utility knife and putty knife, but its very slow going and I ended up cracking the glass on one window when I pressed the putty knife down too hard. Most of the putty is extremely hard and brittle - some has shrunk and cracked away from the frame and is easy to get out, but many bits are still well bonded to the wood and glass.
Try using a hair dryer or a heat gun to soften the putty. Also a rotozip or dremel handheld rotary cutter will work well for these jobs. Just get several different cutter heads to experiment with.
There is a puddy removal past, but heating it up with a dryer or heat gun will work as well. If your not replacing the single width glass with anything more energy effecient then re-glazing isnt going to help a whole lot.
Prazi makes a gadget just for this that goes on a drill... I believe it's called the putty chaser or somthing close to that. I personally just scrape them like your doing now. A little tip from me is to get some DAP acrylic glazing. It comes in a caulking tube and is cake to work with compared to the old type.
I tried some of the cheaper Ace brand but the tube had so much air in it that most of the tube squirted out on my ladder.
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