Wood glue removal

[Sargeguy]

My latest 293A, the one that began life as a magneto box, was the subject of a botched repair job on the dovetailing.  Here is a description of the current state of affairs:  The dovetailing is tight at the back, where the backboard was screwed on but is loosening up towards the front.  A previous repair attempt involved drizzling wood glue over the seams, causing it to puddle up and dry covering about half of the baseboard, and hammering small tacks into each corner at the front.  I need to remove it and will need to remove the glue from the joints in the dovetailing so I can re-glue and properly clamp it.  Any suggestion?  I am resigned to removing the original finish, which is pretty nice, unless someone has any better ideas.

[bingster]

Is it the case that there's so much glue in the open joints that they can't be banged back tight again?  And if that's the case, can you fill just those joints with hot water enough that you could scrape the glue out with a small screwdriver until there's sufficient clearance to get the joint tight again?  I'd hate to see you lose the finish.

[Sargeguy]

I have a steam cleaner.  I will go from the inside so I don't expose the finish to too much steam.