Taking apart a glued breadboard edge

[Tom Hammond]

On my current antique refinish project, I have a door made of a solid piece of QSWO. It has glued-on breadboard edges, causing a nasty situation that I would like to fix before calling this one done. The door has split almost all the way across as a result of the cross-grain problem. I'd like to dissemble the door and fix the crack... but I don't know how to get the breadboard edge off without essentially destroying the board. Another issue is that the edge is pulled back from the joint about 1/16" at the top.

I thought of this... use as narrow a blade as I can find and cut through the tenon right at the joint, from the back side. Then, fix the crack and use a long "loose tenon" to put back together, routing each piece to 1/2" short of the ends to hide the work. Need some feedback from anyone with experience in this kind of repair. THANKS!

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[david brum]

If you're going to redo the finish, you can probably get the ends off with steam or rags soaked in hot water. A friend of mine works for a luthier who specializes in repair work. He's forever steaming things apart, presumably held together with hide glue. I have personally pulled apart joints which were glued with Titebond. I used rags soaked in hot vinegar, which is supposed to weaken the glue. It worked great but smelled awful. I have also steamed off hide glued veneer, using a clothes iron and sprayed on water.

Best of luck

[Tom Hammond]

Great advice. I'll try that before cutting, since the piece is stripped clean and I am in the process of refinishing. THANKS.