Do you think I can restore this beautiful exterior siding?

[travelguy73]

Attachment 438075Attachment 438074

Hi all, VERY amateur here. We are repainting the exterior of the house and replacing our rotted porch ceiling. When the guys removed the old ceiling, they exposed what I think is some beautiful mid-century wood (Cedar? Cypress?). To my knowledge, it has always been painted. I used a heat gun on high and removed the surface paint, and then sanded with a medium grit paper. The finish is very smooth now, but you can see there is a lot embedded in the wood. Does anyone think the paint can be removed to allow me to stain the wood? Or does 60 years of paint mean all I can do is repaint? The house is mid-century ranch and not rustic at all, so I'm not looking for that type of finish.

Thanks!

[Lyle]

I think it would be a huge task to get back to bare wood wiyh no paint flecks still embedded. Also I would be very careful as to how you'd remove the paint. Can you test the paint for lead???
Lyle

[Handyjack]