Loosening overnight glue joint???

[newood2]

Last night I glued up a rail and stile door frame with Elmer's yellow wood glue.
How can I loosen it up to take it apart? Right now I'm soaking it in warm water, but not sure that will help.
Oh, it's maple.

[MikeMcCoy]

You stand a fair shot with a heat gun.

[crokett]

A trick that worked once for me was hot water and vinegar. I can't remember who told me to try it. I injected the mixture into the joint with a hypodermic needle and knocked it apart with a mallet. I am not sure if the vinegar did anything, it might have just been the water. I think the best you can do is weaken the joint enough to separate the parts. You really can't dissolve yellow glue completely.

[Ed62]

I could be wrong with this, but I think vinegar causes a reaction to animal by-products in some glues. Vinegar is what I was going to recommend trying.

Ed

[newood2]

Tried the vinegar, no good so I scrap it. There goes $45.
Thanks guys.
Howie

[Knottscott]

Tried the vinegar, no good so I scrap it. There goes $45.
Thanks guys.
Howie

Sorry the hear it, but that's probably the easiest thing in the long run.

It's just wood....and it DOES grow on trees! (too bad the money it costs doesn't! )

[cabinetman]

Think of it as a testament to your good joinery.
.

[cgallery]

If it is a decent size it may be able to be cut down and the members reused to make something else (a picture frame, for instance, or a smaller door for a cabinet you make next).

Don't just throw it away.

[jrnewhall]

Try a thin kerf saw like a dovetail saw and cut through at the joint. Mortise out both sides and use a loose tenon. May not help in you case, not knowing what is wrong with the joint, but it worked for me on an M&T table apron that didn't fit right.
~JRN

[newood2]

If it is a decent size it may be able to be cut down and the members reused to make something else (a picture frame, for instance, or a smaller door for a cabinet you make next).

Don't just throw it away.

That's exactly what I did. I'll re-use the stiles for the shorter bottom doors. Just 2 doors affected.
BTW, what happen as seen in pic, was the gap left in the joint after glue-up. Even though the pre-glue square-up pencil lines were in sync the clamping somehow nudge it out of square.


My solution was to use a diagonal clamp to keep it square as shown here.