Window Sash Glazing, Save America's Windows

Excerpt from the book Save America's Windows
http://www.historichomeworks.com/hhw/reports/reports.htm#Windows

Step 9c. Glaze.
Apply glazing putty to glazing rabbets as bedding. If working in a cold shop warm the putty slightly with a hot-air gun or infra-red lamp. Set the pane of glass in place and be sure the bottom edge of glass is actually resting on the neck of the lower glazing rabbet (for panes up to 18" wide). Jiggle the glass slightly so that it beds down into the putty, leaving about 1/16" of putty between the glass and the shoulder of the glazing rabbet, with some putty squeezing out all along the edges of the glass.

Apply and tool glazing putty in the form of a bevel to make a water-tight seal between the glass and the wood using the 3-step method: Place, Pack & Tool. Immediately "polish" outside of glass with whiting in a dry soft paint brush to clean oil from the putty off of glass and to "dust up" the surface of the putty. Flip the sash over and remove excess putty from interior joints and tool down to form water-tight seal at joint between the glass and the wood. "Polish" inside of glass with whiting. Set sash aside in correct vertical position to avoid settling of glass and distortion of beveled putty. Allow putty to cure and skin over for several days or a few weeks if possible, then the glazed sash is ready for painting.

Questions & comments on glazing? Meet us at the Forum:
http://historichomeworks.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=955

Workshops & training on window repair and maintenance:
http://www.historichomeworks.com/hhw/education/seminars.htm#HHWWindows

Thanks for watching!

--John

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• window
• sash
• putty knife
• putty
• glaze
• glazing
• glazing compound
• whiting
• calcium carbonate
• restore
• restoration
• repair
• paint
• wood
• glass
• historic preservation
• historic
• preservation
• john leeke
• historic homeworks
• vinyl replacement window
• vinyl window

[johnleeke]

Doug, I had to edit the video so it would fit on YouTube. You can see the whole video over at my website. Click on "show more" above, scroll down and click on the link right after "Questions & comments...", which takes you to the discussion forum at my website. There, scroll down to the first video, watch that, and a second video, Part 2, will come up. At about minute 7:45, I show the corner bevel detail twice, with explanations on how to do it.

John

[johnleeke]

**here it has always been spruce. Which typically rots in 5 years.**

Well, that makes plenty of work for the sash makers!

--John

[johnleeke]

**In my region the traditional wood for windows is spruce. 200 miles to the south or north it is pine corewood, but here it has always been spruce. Which typically rots in 5 years.**

Here in Maine, USA, the traditional sash wood is Eastern White Pine, selected for straight grain heartwood. It lasts for 300 years. Also, some are of White Oak, Mahogany, etc. A new imported wood used by some sashmakers is Spanish Cedar.

I would like to see some videos of your window work.

--John

[johnleeke]

**Either I seal the rabbet with schellack or I saturate the rabbet with oil**

Here in America the tradition is to seal the rabbet with boiled linseed oil, which I have used in the past. I have used Shellac too, which I learned from Hans Allback in Sweden.

**I was thinking about posting one [video] myself. But here's a decent one**

Thanks! You should post one too, I want to learn how it is done in your neck of the woods.

--John

--John

[johnleeke]

>>Either I seal the rabbet with schellack or I saturate the rabbet with oil<<

Here in America the tradition is to seal the rabbet with boiled linseed oil, which I have used in the past. I have used Shellac too, which I learned from Hans Allback in Sweden.

--John

[johnleeke]

OK, this is a great discussion. I think we're just hashing out the details to learn we're basically on the same page.

Window makers have always been innovative, throughout the centuries; as have the workers who maintain and repair windows.

John

[rmtglass1]

Awesome

[dougemail1]

John -- A great video. But you didn't show the one thing that I came to see you demo. That is, how to get the corners looking good. You said in the video that you would "show that in a moment", but then never did. Do you have a video clip showing that technique? That is the trickiest part for me.

[stefflus08]

But by choosing the right trees and constructing the windows correctly, and by using proper linseed paint and putty, such spruce windows are still among us 200+ years later.

It looked like you were using paint to seal the rabbet so the "pressureputty" doesn't dry out.

I've seen this alot, but it requires some sort of acrylic or latex paint to effectively stop the oil from wandering out of the putty, and I don't use those. Either I seal the rabbet with schellack or I saturate the rabbet with oil

[stefflus08]

Oh wow, I've been skimming through glazing videos on youtube for a while now, and they've all been so awful I was thinking about posting one myself. But here's a decent one. Thanks!

From the discussion below it seems you have much the same problems with "pressure to chuck'em" as here in scandinavia, and perhaps worse.

In my region the traditional wood for windows is spruce. 200 miles to the south or north it is pine corewood, but here it has always been spruce. Which typically rots in 5 years.