Thank you very much for your comments and suggestions. You mention:
"The best tool for clearing out the old mortar is an angle grinder with a
1/4" thick segmented diamond wheel. "
This makes allot of sense to me.
Do you recommend a powerful grinder (9A which in the hands of a novice could
get out of hand and damage surrounding brick or a lower powered unit (5A
which may not last the life of the project)?
Is variable speed an important option?
I don't project much use for this tool after completing this project but
anything I spend will be worth it if I can complete this task.
Thanks again.
Snappa

--
"RicodJour" wrote in message
ups.com...
snapperhead wrote:
My home was built in the 1940's. When I purchased it several years ago
the
home inspector told me that I would need to sand down the metal lentils
above the doors and windows and paint and recaulk them.
I'm starting the job now and it seems that the moisture and rust from the
lentils has step cracked the pointing around the openings.
I've read a good deal about repointing on the web but I've yet to
discover
the correct tool for removing the old mortar.
I'm thinking some type of grinder or rotary tool.
Anybody have any experience with this? Could you suggest a list of tools
I'll need for this job?

The lintels (lentils are beans) need to be protected from moisture. As
you've seen, when they rust they can cause some pretty big problems.
The exposed surfaces are easy to deal with - just use a wire disk/cup
and a drill with sandpaper for the parts you can't reach otherwise.
Use a rust converting paint as primer, then a couple top coats in your
color choice.

The best tool for clearing out the old mortar is an angle grinder with
a 1/4" thick segmented diamond wheel. Makes short work of it. You'll
have to use a masonry chisel, or as someone else suggested, a
screwdriver, to clear out the areas you can't reach with the grinder.
The grinder is a lot faster, messy as hell, more dangerous, more likely
to mess up the brick if you're not careful and entirely worth it.

Blow out the joints when you're done and then repoint. It's not a bad
idea to caulk the mortar joint where the lintel extends into the brick.
That's always the first place to go.

R