Woodworking question for disassembling a wooden chalkboard frame

[mark ahlenius]

Hi,

I have an old (antique) chalkboard frame which I need to take apart so that we can fit it in our SUV to transport it to our son’s home. The size of the frame will not fit into the hatchback opening of our car. I want to disassemble it carefully so that when we take it out to our son in another state, then we can reassemble and glue it up for them.

The frame is made of solid oak and appears to use mortise and tenons for each of the upper joints (4). See the pictures I’ve attached. The problem is that someone put finishing nails from the back side into the tenons on the middle rail. I don’t know if the tenons are floating or glued in. So my question is how can I disassemble it without damaging the oak very much? I of course will use a soft mallet and/or other blocks of wood to take it apart.

If I drive the finishing nails through it will most likely splinter the front style member. And add unsightly holes.

See the attached pictures.

Appreciate anyideas for doing this.

IMG_6032.jpgIMG_6033.jpgIMG_6030.jpgIMG_6031.jpg

Thank you

’mark

[Steve Demuth]

I would use a small plug cutter to cut a shallow plug around each nail, and then carefully pop out the plug from around the nail head. It should be easy to then pull the nails with a side cutter (to get them started) and nail puller. You can easily fill the resulting holes with oak plugs when you reassemble.

[mark ahlenius]

Thanks Steve, thats a great idea. Much appreciated

’mark

[Thomas McCurnin]

I would assume the M&T joints are glued. While you may be able to apply steam and pry them apart (after removing the nails), that might be a challenge. Unless this frame is a priceless antique, I think I would just saw the frame along the joints and reassemble using a floating tenon, dowel joint or biscuit joint. I think I would probably opt for dowels.

[Mike Cutler]

Steve's idea, then use a Cat's Paw to pull the nail, and you're set. This is what a Cat's Paw is for.
You may not need the plug cutter, unless the nail heads were driven deep.

[mark ahlenius]

Thanks. The upper joint of the frame which has mitered corners was not nailed and I was able to get that top horizontal board off without too much difficulty,. Unfortunately they used an oval shaped biscuit. But the middle horizontal board is the one with 3 nails on each side and they are set about 1/8” below the surface. I think the plug cutter idea is spot on.

[mark ahlenius]

Thanks Mike, yes the nails are set too deep so I think the plug cutter is a viable answer for this one.

[Cameron Wood]

If the mitered corners have biscuits, the butt joints may as well, so pushing the pieces apart with a reversed clamp or sliding a stick slightly longer than the inside dimension down along the frame could work to pull or break the biscuit.

[Lee Schierer]

Thanks Mike, yes the nails are set too deep so I think the plug cutter is a viable answer for this one.

You could also use a punch or nail set to drive the nails out the other side far enough to grip them with vise grips to pull them. I would check the corners for metal before trying to take them apart.

[mark ahlenius]

Hi, that won’t work in this case because the nails were drivien in on the back side of the frame and do not protrude out the front of the plane.

I think the hole cutter approach is what I‘ll try in the next few days.

thank you,

’mark

[Rob Luter]

Hi, that won’t work in this case because the nails were drivien in on the back side of the frame and do not protrude out the front of the plane.

I think the hole cutter approach is what I‘ll try in the next few days.

thank you,

’mark

If you are without a selection of plug/hole cutters like I am, there's another solution that works well. Using a regular twist drill 3 or 4 dimes the diameter of the nail, drill two shallow holes on opposite sides and adjacent to the nail head. this leaves a path for needle nose pliers or the corner of a pair of small vice grips to grab the head and pull the nail. They can be plugged afterwards with dowel or putty.

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