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Paint Home Repair Windows

Is this wood filler around a window?

2 years ago

I'm in the middle of stripping paint from the wooden frame of stained glass window. The paint is coming off nicely but where the glass meets the wood, I've discovered a layer (?) of some kind of tough, but not rock hard, material. The material is blue-gray and I can carve/scrape it away with a blunt edge. My plan was to strip the frame down to the wood for a clean surface to paint but I'm not sure what to do with this new discovery.

You can see in the photos that the material is not applied in a straight line -- it's wavy along the edge of the stained glass leading. Does anyone have any recommendations on how to handle this? Leave it alone? Remove it (if so, how)? Maybe sand it? If I have to keep it, I'd like to try and give it more of a finished look. I would appreciate an expert's opinion -- thanks!

-Ryan

PS: Not sure if this is important to note, but the window will be hung inside a bedroom; it was once an exterior window but the pervious owners of my home renovated and turned it into an interior window. It will still open on hinges, even though it will be indoors.

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Comments (8)

PRO
toddinmn
2 years ago
Looks like glazing , but most glazing is white at its core.
cat_ky
2 years ago
Yes, its lead. You will ruin the window, if you remove that. Please be careful, and stop scraping it. I agree, you would be better to look for someone that restores stained glass.l
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I understand your concern. I am not a paint pro, but I would score the deep depressions with a needle- headed screwdriver. Sanding the shallow ones should be enough. If you are going to sand the entire surface, I don't see the point of using a high strength cleaner. Seems to me that would be only if you are not sanding as part of your prep. Just use a tack cloth to clean after sanding. if there are deep gouges, you'll have to (probably) fill in multiple shallow fills. Supposedly the new fillers won't crack on deep fills, but I wouldn't chance that.
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cpartist, it was reading posts here that convinced me to go with all drawers on the lower cabinets. It didn't occur to me that the width might matter that much but hopefully I'll be able to use the cabinet above the fridge and on the other side of the peninsula for oversized items. I also have two large spaces at the top of the pantries so I think everything will fit. And yes, I agree that throwing out what I've got is definitely not an option. I don't know anybody who can afford to do that. and we definitely can't. Creative Design Cabinetry, all the cabinets in my plan have already been purchased, almost two years ago actually, so they are non-returnable. I do need finished edges for fillers by the stove if I want them to be flush with the doors, because you will see one of them. If I make them flush with the box it won't be an issue. Kitchen place, if we do the flush thing with the fillers, we will build a box to make it sturdy. I like your idea of pulling the cabinets out from the wall, and that would have enabled us to make the fridge panels flush with the counter, but we have already paid for the quartz and don't have the option of going bigger with it.
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PRO
toddinmn
2 years ago
The part between the caning and the sash is most likely glazing , or caulk over glazing. Highly doubt it is lead since lead was never used to seal a stained glass to a wood sash. If you were to stick something sharp into it you would see it would flake or chip off and most likely be white underneath.
PRO
Windows on Washington Ltd
2 years ago
Glazing or old caulk as Todd mentioned. Sharp knife and gloves. Don't break the glass.
ci_lantro
2 years ago
Since the glazing putty looks like it is in mostly good shape, I would leave it alone. That stuff can be really difficult to remove & in trying to do so, you risk damaging the window. (I've broken the glass in old windows more than once when trying to remove tough sections of putty.)

Yes, it will not look perfect but you accept that because the window is old. That is part of what makes it charming & authentic and distinguishable from a reproduction. And you are not relying on it to keep out the weather.
elcieg
2 years ago
Windows are leaded glass. Don't mess around with it...just clean the glass and deal just with the painted wood. Lovely windows. I had bookcases with leaded glass doors in my 1913 Colonial living room. Very special, IMO.
PRO
toddinmn
2 years ago
If you replace the glazing i would use wood.
ryansinon
Original Author
2 years ago
Thanks for all of your comments everyone. I'm going to pause on this project for now. There's a stained glass art studio very close to my house and I'm going to contact them to see if they have any advice. I may end up just painting back over the leading. To cilantro's point -- I'm not concerned about perfection, only about preservation -- the window is over 100 years old.

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