Exposing the Details

Stripping is moving along at a steady pace in the dining room. The wood trim and the corner cabinets are made of birch with almost an 1/8th of an inch of paint. The paint is so thick that it leaves behind a thin coat of goo that sands off easily.

The trim has been a variety of colors. From what I can tell based on my scraping is that the first coat was a light yellow or cream. Then the the trim entered a green phase where it was medium green and then dark green. The paint then moved to the infamous pink era of the 50's. The last couple of coats were white.
I realized as I scraped away at the top of the cabinet was that there was incised fluting across the top. This detail was totally obscured because it was filled with layer upon layer of paint.
I need to round off the corner of my stiff putty knife to fit the groove. This should allow me to remove the paint but keep the sharp edges. I'll leave this detail until last when I have the cabinet in the other corner stripped.

This is where I stopped this evening. I need to strip the bottom of two shelves and finish the three window casings. I can then start on the cabinet in the other corner.Then I'll move on to the base board and finally sanding. The top sashes will have to wait until spring when I can remove them. If I attempt to strip them now with a heat gun, I know I will crack a pane or two because the glass is cold because it's winter.....brrrrrr.