How were you able to clean the splits -- did the loose piece come off completely, exposing the joint ?
In assembling with hide glue, how much open time do you have ? I'd be afraid the glue would begin to gel long before you were ready to put the pieces together -- especially the last side.
The color of that teak is so wonderfully red in your photos. A beautiful piece. Tons of "Danish style" cases -- not made like this one, of course -- were sold in American stores in the 'fifties and 'sixties. This is what they were imitating, I guess . . .
Yeah the bad split was already completely separated. I think that it was actually a crack in the tree and the tree filled it with resin which had seemed to glue it back together when it was raw lumber, but was the first spot to give. With retrospect I imagine the board would not have been used. But the craftsman does not have that privilege.
One of the glue joints had completely failed. And another couple were loose enough to pull apart by hand. Simply removed old glue, applied new glue, and clamped.
Last little thing. Once the split was re-glued, the dovetails did not match up perfectly. You can see the glued split as the dark line in the board below the clamp. And the pin beside it had to be shaved down a tiny bit so the dovetails would fit together. This left a gap just thick enough for a piece of teak veneer to be slipped in.
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