Correct way to glaze windows

[silentC]

Would you finish the gap off with a bit of acrylic sealant?

Depends on whether you intend to paint, stain, or leave it. If you were going to paint the bead, it would be a better finish. For clear finish, you'd either have to colour match the filler, or just leave it.

If you buy timber windows now, they are usually glazed with a timber bead, as are timber doors.

[TassieKiwi]

I enjoyed watching the glazier doing our new french doors. There was about 22 lights. He was very quick; bead of silicon, whack the glass in, timber bead on and thup thup thup with a wee staple gun powered by what looked like an oxygen cylinder (CO2?). Sweet as.

[peter_sm]

I just reputtied the bottom two windows in the garage. The old putty was nearly completely out. I just got the tub of putty, kneaded it until it was warm, a scraper and some linseed oil as a lubricant, and came up looking professional.

You have to prime it with an oil based primer, then can paint water base top coat over it.

[pawnhead]

They all sound like good methods, and the dish washing liquid, sprayed on, is a good tip. I've done that before and it works a treat.

With the doors I just built, I lacquered everything (including the timber glazing bead, all around), then siliconed in the rebate, pushed the glass in, siliconed around the edges, pushed the glazing bead into the silicone and nailed it off, and then puttied the nails. Then I touched over the putty with lacquer, and lacquered the joint between the glazing bead and the door frame to seal it. If you use just the right amount of silicone, then there's very little overspill, and what there is can be cleaned up with a razor blade scraper when the silicone is dry. There might be a tiny amount of water that gets between the glazing bead and the glass, but it won't get far and the bead has been lacquered all around to protect it anyway.
It saved me a lot of masking or cutting in rather than lacquering it all after they'd been glazed. Although if I'd masked it up, then I could have brushed a bit of lacquer between the bead and the glass to seal that off as well, but I'm too lazy.