...anyone out there have success/method with breaking the glue joints between the stile and rail?
...anyone out there have success/method with breaking the glue joints between the stile and rail?
Heat. Get the entire door up to 140 degrees or so and both hide glue and aliphatic resin glues loosen up. Dry heat tends to work better for me. Too much moisture swells the tenons and makes things difficult.
and that's assuming they aren't wedged, in lieu of glued. in that case, it's quite difficult to get them apart without breaking something.
I have refinished a few, and found that several layers of old paint were hiding the nails that held the tenon inside the mortise. I assume they were put there to hold it together while the glue set. You may have to do some stripping first.