Yesterday I painted my front door. It has 9 divided lights; such things can make a paint job tricky. I’ve painted enough window frames in my lifetime to have a definite opinion as to the taping versus scraping question. For me, it’s scraping. Let me tell you why. I find taping hugely time consuming, plus, getting the tape just right–especially in the corners–is a pain. AND every time I’ve taped, I always seem to do some scraping anyway. So, scraping it is. What I like about this method is I can get right to work and paint away. Of course, when the paint is dry, I have to scrape. Over the years I’ve actually developed a certain fondness for this part of the job. I think it has to do with the way I actually do it.
First I use my razor blade to score a line at the intersection of frame and glass, like so:
Then I scrape the paint from the center of the glass to the frame.
When done in such a manner (scoring first) the paint peals off like ribbon. Okay, it doesn’t peal off like ribbon EVERY time, but more often than not, it does.
So, how about you? Are you a taper or a scraper??
