ungluing and regluing bowl

[gpsmith]

My sister in law has given me a karri NZ bowl and and base that was on display during the hot (40 C ) day and the base has slipped from the plate and re adhered about 2 cm off centre. I think it may have been glued with a hot melt glue - it is clear and does not look like the animal glue that I have seen before.
Q1. can I separate the two pieces with a hot air gun?
Q2. if that works should I just reglue it with a couple of locating pins in there? or
should I clean off the glue and use another PVA type like titebond?

Or is/are there any alternative suggestions?

Regards,

[Rod Gilbert]

Hi gpsmith,
I would think that it is defiantly hot glue, a heat gun should be able to melt it to remove or you could put it in the microwave to heat it enough to remove it. I would suggest you remove it and clean up the contact area and re-glue with a good quality PVA. A photo could be useful to give a better answer.
Regards Rod.

[joe greiner]

A heat gun might scorch it.

I've used hot-melt glue for temporary assembly. My usual process is to "bake" it in a regular oven at about 190F (about 90C) for about 1/2 hour to loosen the bond. Then scrape off as much of the glue as possible, with final cleaning with acetone.

Thirty-minute epoxy provides more working time than PVA.

Cheers,
Joe

[gpsmith]

Thank you Joe and Rod,
I have used the microwave method - 2 minutes on High - it has worked a treat, came apart very easily.

I have scraped a little of the hot melt glue off - will do more clean up and then try adhering with Titebond or Gorilla.

Is it better to try and remove the glue when hot or cold?

Regards,

[turnerted]

Smithy
I think its better to remove the glue when it's hot. I remove the bulk of it with a flat chisel and then clean with turps.
Ted

[Mobyturns]

Hopefully A NZ turner may chip in. I'm not sure I would be putting NZ kauri into a microwave. At least it worked for you.