They are in about the same condition as my window sashes. My process, developed from the excellent advice I received on this forum, is the following:

remove and place on a flat surface;
clamp down as needed;
scrape off the paint using a heat gun and an assortment of scrapers;
sand to bare wood using an orbital sander and a detail sander;
repair rot with Abatron LiquidWood and WoodEpox;
sand repaired areas;
prime with a slow drying oil base primer;
apply two coats of acrylic paint.

Thank you SO much for taking the time to respond. This is exactly what I'm looking for.

Graywings has it exactly right.

We'll be tackling our shutters soon... very soon. Ours have a ton more layers of paint. I have tackled 2 of them so far... very hard to get this paint off! DH just made a steamer.. cheap, and we tested on shutter and so far - so good!! If this works, it will be a big time saver!

Be careful with the steamer brfore painting, water and paint do not mix.You are goig to have to let it dry very well before painting.

As to the original poster gray wing has it down exactly right but as you know the lead paint should be addressed