Removing glass from old windows
This is a bit of a rescue salvage operation: I am living in Paris, and my landlord is having my windows changed. I would desperately like to rescue the early nineteenth century handblown glass that is inside the frames (owing to there pretty terrible condition it is impossible to retain or re-use the frames). I…
This is a bit of a rescue salvage operation: I am living in Paris, and my landlord is having my windows changed. I would desperately like to rescue the early nineteenth century handblown glass that is inside the frames (owing to there pretty terrible condition it is impossible to retain or re-use the frames).
I have been trying to remove the putty with a chisel and a rubber mallet but the glass is simply to thin and cracks. I have been wondering if it would be worth buying a diamond cutter to try and cut the glass out, but I have the feeling that this will be equally futile.
Has anyone attempter a similar project? Is it completely futile?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated,
Gabriel F. Wick
Paris, France
I would not use steam near veneer.
Yes, it is effective to cover the glass. We use curved pieces of aluminum coil stock, or 6 or 8 layers of heavy duty aluminum foil, wrapped around a piece of cardboard.
Sometimes we use aluminum tape, because it sticks and holds in place, just tacking it lightly in place at spots or along edges, and not rubbing it down completely because it is difficult to remove.
The infra-red lamp strippers can work on sashes, but the wide width makes it difficult to control all that heat on the thin rails and muntins. The heat can sometimes be controlled with the aluminum foil.
John
http://www.HistoricHomeWorks.com
John Leeke,
I took a look at your link and wish I had the baffle you constructed for the heat gun, though I note you still experienced 15% breakage. Have you ever tried protecting the glass with something around the house while using a heat gun? Like cardboard covered in heavy duty tin foil? I have a window in a door with fancy detailing on the muntins and woodwork surrounding the glass and I need to remove the paint but want to save the old glass. I’m afraid my silent paint remover will break the glass, even worse with a heat gun, and the door is veneer over solid core (c. 1919!) so i’m wary of using steam since it could warp the veneer.
Thanks!
Here is a direct link to the deglazing info at my website:
http://historichomeworks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1587
Southslope, are you restoring windows professionally? If you would like to be listed in my book’s national directory of historic window specialists, please send me your contact info and a brief description of your window work. Here’s a link to the book, so you can see what it’s like:
http://www.historichomeworks.com/hhw/reports/reports.htm#Windows
John Leeke
http://www.HistoricHomeWorks.com
another option would be buying a glass cutter and cutting the glass out, reducing the size of each piece (because you’d be cutting off the part with the putty) but perhaps ending with less breakage vs. trying to mechanically chip away the hard putty.
southslope’s suggestion of removing the wood first with a saw makes sense. Some historic window restorers use steam to remove the putty, along with paint on the frames, which they are keeping. But then you need to buy or rent a heavy duty garment steamer (the handheld ones aren’t enough) or build some kind of improvised steaming chamber. Check out http://www.historichomeworks.com/
we use a tool called a putty chaser, sometimes. It is useful if you only want to remove the glazing putty, then you have to deal with removing the old glazing points.Here is the tool: http://www.praziusa.com/puttychaser.html
If you are not saving the sash, cut the top rail of the sash with a handsaw (right through the tenon where it meets the stile) and disassemble it. We use this method most of the time and have a 75% success rate at removing the glass intact.
Make sure the chisels are really sharp and they should carve right through any hardened putty without being struck by a mallet or hammer. And yes, a flexible blade slid underneath the putty against the glass helps too.
DO NOT use a heat gun, as the glass will crack. We mixed equal parts linseed oil w/ household bleach. Applied liberally to the old putty and let it soak for 24hrs. Used a roller chisel to get the big chunks off, and then followed up with a razor blade / putty knife. If you can’t find a roller chisel a box cutter will do. Repeat process until the panes come out.