Pulling the stitches went a lot better than I was expecting. Since the epoxy was touching over half of the stitches, I assumed it was going to be difficult to pull them. So I clipped all of the wires from the inside and got a heat gun ready to go. It turned out to be a non-issue. They all came out without needing any heat to soften the epoxy. I only had to tug hard on less than ten of them.
With the wires out, the next step was to remove the high spots from the uneven epoxy glue lines. My plan is to remove the high spots and then fair the "chines" with thickened epoxy (thickened with wood flour). This will hopefully result in a flat bevel between the panels. So how to remove the high spots? I started with a paint scraper, which worked, but was hard going. It also tended to scratch the wood more than I liked. Then I discovered that a metal file worked great. I hope the epoxy is cured enough to prevent sensitization issues since I got flakes of it all over myself. Another thing I did, which I should have done with the first epoxy debacle, was to add masking tape above and below where I want my bevels to go.
So, at this point, I should be ready for fairing. Wish me luck!
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