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Disassembling Hutch


JustCallMeAnna

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I think it's called a cabinet on the Hobby Lobby website if that helps. I always seem to have one of these in my cart when I place a order, I don't know why I can't resist it.

At any rate, the house told me that it needed a wall unit... and when sorting through the "basket of future possibilities" these hutches offered themselves up. And I thought that maybe the were onto something! And the house agrees, so who am I to throw a wrench into the works...

But I can't seem to get any of them to come apart... without causing some serious damages (this particular hutch is in time out), but I have a few more that are scared right down to the pins in their doors!

Any suggestions? Please help me help them help my bash house!

hutch.jpg

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Hobby Lobby now carries the $1 Michael's hutches?  I used to dip mine into a pot of water at a rolling boil and fish it right back out with my slotted spoon and the parts came apart just as nice as you please.

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1 minute ago, havanaholly said:

Hobby Lobby now carries the $1 Michael's hutches?  I used to dip mine into a pot of water at a rolling boil and fish it right back out with my slotted spoon and the parts came apart just as nice as you please.

Oh I will certainly be trying this one tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know about the $1 Michael's ones (I would have been all over those!) these are usually about $4. Oi.

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$4?  Maybe that's why Michael's stopped carrying them; I'm so glad I stocked up!  I took two of them apart for my Travel trailer and used the bottoms for kitchen cabinets:

gallery_8_2728_334073.jpg

I hung one of the tops over the bed and the other one in the bathroom over the commode & lavatory:

gallery_8_2728_85551.jpg

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28 minutes ago, JustCallMeAnna said:

For clarity sake, once I've got the water boiling I put the hutch in, for how long? A minute? Afterwards, will I be able to pry it apart where I want or will the whole thing come apart?

I just dropped it into the boiling water and immediately fished it out again with the spoon ns dropped it into the sink and used potholder to hold the top and bottom and gently pried them apart.  The glue just softened enough to do that.  When I left it in the water a few seconds things slid a bit and I had to quick moosh them back together until they dried.  The wood cools fairly quickly and you can scrape the softened glue off with your fingernail to remove it where you don't want it.  If these hutches are made the same as those were my method works.  It seems to me some members posted that putting them into the freezer also worked.  I haven't tried that because I keep food in mine.

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I put mine in the freezer. After a day or 2 I give it to my husband to break. He just kinda snaps it in 2. He enjoys the opportunity to break something and not get in trouble. I've only used the cheaper Michael's hutches, but I cant imagine it'd really be any different with yours. I am confident I would burn myself with the boiling water!

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2 hours ago, bluebear said:

I put mine in the freezer. After a day or 2 I give it to my husband to break. He just kinda snaps it in 2. He enjoys the opportunity to break something and not get in trouble. I've only used the cheaper Michael's hutches, but I cant imagine it'd really be any different with yours. I am confident I would burn myself with the boiling water!

I either use my slotted spoon or my tongs to hold the hutch, and a potholder to hold the pot of water; so far, no scalds.

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2 hours ago, bluebear said:

I put mine in the freezer. After a day or 2 I give it to my husband to break. He just kinda snaps it in 2. He enjoys the opportunity to break something and not get in trouble. I've only used the cheaper Michael's hutches, but I cant imagine it'd really be any different with yours. I am confident I would burn myself with the boiling water!

I didn't give up hope on the freezer... this morning I decided to try again. Took all of my might (my guy went to work this morning, otherwise I'm sure he would have loved to snap something mini and not get in trouble), but it did snap, but it surely didn't snap pretty! So I'm off to boil water!!!

freezer.jpg

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56 minutes ago, havanaholly said:

At least you can glue the broken pieces back together.

The way that middle piece split and splintered, I wouldn't even bother (mainly because that's the piece I don't need)! Boiling them worked like a charm! The two hutches just came apart! Of course, that blasted middle piece wanted to keep on holding (to the bottom piece of the of the top and the top piece of the bottom), but a bit longer in the boil and a little coercion with a butter knife and they let loose of each other! So excited! Thank you Holly!

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43 minutes ago, KathieB said:

Anna, a glance at the "Patiently Waiting Their Turn" section of your signature indicates you have no end of something to do while you wait for the cupboard pieces to dry! 

LoL! I know! But I promised both myself and Jeffrey that I would only work on one house at a time!  He'd probably murder me if my little corner of the living room (it's the only place to mini) spread like a bad rash. My brother told him that he'd understand after he saw an episode of storage wars (or something like that, I'm not up to date on tv series) where he saw something dollhouse related go for thousands.

So I did my nails!

26 minutes ago, shannonc60 said:

I just stick them in the oven (not too hot, keep it low) for a couple of minutes. Easier, quicker, drier.

Hmmm, now this has me curious. Maybe the next time a hutch needs disassembly! Although, I wonder what my chances are of burning the house down are?!

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2 hours ago, havanaholly said:

Anna, next time instead of  using a butter knife, the next time your local Harbor Freight has a coupon sale get yourself a set of graduated metal putty knives.

I wish!!! Oh to live in the big city again!!!

I do have a putty knife somewhere, probably out in the shed, but it just didn't occur to me that I'd need it. So, I grabbed the closest thing I could... A butter knife from the disk rack. I'll be the first to admit that I wasn't fully prepared. Plus, I had ordered my boys lunch and was running close to it's pick up time.  Next time, I'll know better!

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