Good afternoon folks,

I am an upholsterer. I am working on a fully upholstered antique sofa - with no show wood. I have removed all fabric, padding and springs. It is down to the cleaned bare wooden frame. I am now ready to disassemble the frame. Many of the doweled joints are broken or loose. All joinery was made with hide glue. I want to use epoxy to do all repairs along with all new dowels.

I have a few questions:

What are the best techniques for removing the old hide glue (in some cases, there have been other glues used over the original hide glue) from the dowel holes?

The best way to remove dowels that are still firm on one end?

If the holes are not cleaned perfectly, will the epoxy adhere to the old hide glue?

The dowels may not fit tightly in some of the holes. This is due to the furniture being used for years with loose joints. How would you go about repairing these? Plug and re-drill? wrap the dowel pins with something? ????

Any information, help or comments are greatly appreciated.

ted