Doors and Windows - glazing removal question

Is there ANY easy way to remove old glazing? It is old and cracked and painted over and over and over again. I'm using a razor scraper and putty knife and it's a bear! But, I can't see that there would be any knife that would make it any easier. Any tricks of the trade to share? :D

A heat gun usually helps to soften the glazing, but it can also crack the glass if it gets too hot. The tool I use the most is a utility knife and a sharp blade. If the glazing is really stuck (the wood and the glazing have somehow bonded to become harder than granite) there's always the Prazi Putty Chaser, which goes in a drill, and it works okay. There's really no fun way of doing it. It's one of my least favorite jobs.

Thank you XSleeper! It's definitely NO fun!!!! It's definitely harder than granite! House is about 100 years old and I think the glazing is at least half that!!!! :eek:

if you're worried about a heat gun cracking the glass, try a hair dryer. me and a coworker once were assigned the wonderful task of replacing the glass in a shipment of wooden windows in which the glass had broken in most of them. we used a putty knife ahd a blowdryer (the only available heat source) and got the job finished in a fairly reasonable amount of time.

The glazing compound you removed with a hair dryer was in new windows. Glazing compound used today doesn't harden like the old stuff that noguru is trying to remove. If you're replacing the glass use a heat gun or propane torch...........If you're trying to remove the glazing compond and reusing the glass....forget it.

Thanks to every one for all the good advice. There's just no easy answer to this one! I just keep telling myself "I love my old house I love my old house I love my old house"!!!! LOL :D

A router and straight bit would probably work if you could remove the sashes, put them on a bench, and clamp a straightedge to the sash. But you'd run the risk of hitting a glazing point, and you'd have to set the bit just above the glass. But I bet that old hard glazing would router well. Never tried it but it sounds like it would work.

I remember my old boss working for days on a house he owned, trying to fix it up, removing glazing, then breaking the glass after trying to be so careful. Like Johnam was referring to, you might as well just bust out the glass to begin with. Then you can use a sharp chisel to remove all the old glazing.

Thanks XSleeper! Might be worth it!