Timber Framers Guild Forums General General Forum Questions Repairing 100+ year old clapboards

We recently had the asbestos shingles removed from our house and though most of the original clapboards are in good shape, some need to be replaced. I'm wondering what is the best method to recondition the ones we'll keep and whether to use paint of opaque stain. Any ideas/experiences?
OR...Should we listen to the grumps who tell us to tear it all off and put up new siding?

If you do decide to replace some or all of the clapboards, check out these two mills:

http://www.woodsiding.com/
http://www.wardclapboard.com/index.html

They both produce true vertical grain pine and spruce clapboards the old fashioned way: on a circular saw mill that slices the logs into pie-shaped wedges. Great folks to deal with.

Good luck,

Dave in Padanaram