Jay,

Been there, done that...... Calm down, grab a cup of Joe and relax, we'll
get you thru this even if it kills you....

Be sure the glass and sash are clean (use mineral spirits). I'm assuming
you're using an oil based putty. Temperature of putty needs to be above 50F,
as the cold will make the glazing miserable to work with and resist touching
it with your fingers once it has been applied to the window.

Make a 6" long (approximately - we're not doing rocket science here) snake
by rolling it between your hands and make it a little larger in diameter
than needed (experience will tell you how big to make it - not critical).
Place the snake on the glass at the sash (or muntin if you have divided
windows). Clean your hands.

Now, when forming it, dip your putty knife in some mineral sprits and form
the "wedge" by holding the knife at ~45deg to the glass and go from the
glass to the sash in one downward swipe forcing the glazing into the groove
between the glass and wood and forming the wedge which will be the width of
the putty knife you're using (~ 1.5" to 2").

Leave it - it isn't perfect yet but leave it alone and do the next swipe.
You swipe from top to bottom doing the width of your putty knife - not from
side to side. Go all around the window (make more putty snakes as you go)
to get the glazing down so it looks like a wedge and no longer like a snake.
At this point, its a pretty ugly looking glazing job.

Now, (hard to explain but easy to do) go to the corner, tilt knife slightly
to the side but flat to the glass at a 45deg angle to make the corner, press
down slightly and pull knife slightly to the side away from the corner a
couple of inches. Do the other side of the corner - again, it won't be
perfect but you will fix that in the last step.

Now, dip the knife in mineral spirits again and use it as a spatula to
smooth some of the ripples out of the glazing around the window - again
top-to-bottom, not side to side (you're not a pro yet - next window maybe).

Go around the window, keeping the mineral spirits on the putty (it will
evaporate off) so it doesn't stick and pull with the knife and smooth the
little ripples down. Now you have somewhat of a decent looking glazing job
but there's still some vertical ripples to smooth out. Wet the knife
(mineral spirits) and carefully place it near one corner at a slight angle
with the corner tip of the blade at the top line of the glazing and the body
of the knife on the sash.

Now, with a little pressure applied to keep the knife on the glass and wood,
use your other hand to help guide the knife along the edge as you pull the
knife towards the other corner. Stop short a few inches from the far corner
(to avoid ruining the corner by pushing more putty into it). If there's an
excess of putty (yeah there is, you still ain't a pro yet), knife it off
(top to bottom). Now do the same thing that you just did but start from
that corner and go back the other way. Keep the mineral spirits on the
putty. Repeat as necessary and when you have this down to one swipe across
in each direction - get your card punched, you're ready!

You'll soon learn how much putty is needed and will avoid having to knife a
lot off in the final steps. The trick is to keep the putty warm, slightly
moist with mineral spirits and keep the knife moving at a constant rate and
pressure once you're doing the final pass (side to side). Any putty on the
glass can be scrapped off with a razor blade later or cleaned off with
mineral spirits after the putty has set up.

Get into the mood for doing this, its not difficult once you get a rhythm
going and keep moving. Its been a few years but I've done "several" house
full of windows over the years. Certainly not a pro but those tips worked
for me.

Now the pro's will jump in and tell you some better ways (like outsourcing
the job....)

Bob S.


"Jay Pique" wrote in message
news
DAGS (excuse me - "Did A Google Search") and found a few threads from
waaay back when. I'm in the process of slathering "33" Glazing onto a
bunch of door windows and I'm damn near ready to smash every ****ing
piece of glass I just pointed. What an absolute disaster. Glazing
stuck to everything but the rabbet to which I'm trying to apply it,
little wads of it smushed flat in the middle of the glass,
fingerprints mashed into the corners, six different putty knives all
over the floor....the list goes on. Incompetence rules the day.
WTF?

AAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRGHHH!!!!

Somebody needs to build a better friggin' mousetrap.

JP
*************************
Just plain frustrated.