: He said he used a
: heat gun to soften and remove the expoxy and glass. I haven't done this
: myself but he is an experienced builder and the results were good.

I'll second the use of heat for removing the glass. Judicious use of heat and SHARP scrapers can be used to great effect. The problem with sanding is the difference in hardness between the wood and the epoxy. Once you get just a little wood exposed through the epoxy the wood abrades more quickly causing divots and bumps. With scapers you can control the depth of cut more finely.It's a method that takes more skill and does not need power tools and so is often not considered. Best of all ,it's a fairly quiet process.