Advice on re-painting timber window frames

[inferno6688]

Hey guys,
The exterior of our timber window frames are in dying need of a new lick of paint. The old paint is all peeling or has already peeled off, and some bits have gone black.
The original paint was a Wattyl stain and varnish (2in1), i don't think it was designed for outdoors, though it has lasted 15 years!
So my questions are as follows:
- What's the best way to remove the old paint? heat gun and scrape? or use a paint streipper product?
- My ROS won't fit in most of the parts. is it worth getting one of those cheap Ozito detail sanders?
- anything else i should do to prepare the surface?

Now as for the painting......
- I planning on using 2 coats of the orginal wattyl stain/varnish becuase i need the same colour. Then i was thinking of finishing it off with a coat of something like Cabot's Exterior Clear. Will this work? Any other products which may be better?

Sorry for the long post, but i want to get it right

Thank you in advance

[Groggy]

I wouldn't use a heat gun as you could crack the glass if not careful. Chemical remover is messy but does not damage the existing timber like mechanical tools or water blasting.

I would not rely on an Ozito detailer. prep the timber with a light hand sand.

[Ashore]

Use the wattyl stain by all means but then use the wattyl exterior ( they only make one exterior coating ) or sickens cetrol filter 7 either one will work over wattyl stain , have used both with excellent results .
As to the removal of the previous coating elbow grease , give the ortiz a go , wait for scouts bob a job day chemical would be the last go I should think.........no painting over them with enamel would be the last resort

Rgds

[inferno6688]

That's a good point about the heat gun breaking the glass!
looks like a bit of sanding to do, and i might have to use some paint stripper for the narrow bits.

Cheers

[Gumby]

I'd try the heat gun first, but just be careful. You should be able to blister the paint without cracking the window. It's the best way to get it all off easily. Give it a go.

[jags]

Hi inferno

After all the great advice that people on this forum have been giving me it's great to find a subject i can help with .

I have been stripping back the paint on some old ( 99% i think there jarrah ) window .

And what i found to work amazingly well was a blunt sticker scraper
(The things that you slide a rasor blade into to remove stickers from glass ) and a heat gun

But because you do not want to cut into the wood it is best to blunten the blade a little .I found going over the blade with some sand papper or scaping it along the concrete worked .

heat the area you want to remove the paint from with a heat gun and them use the scraper .

I hope this works for you as well as it has for me
best of luck .
I've got two more left to do .
Rob