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How to Unglue a Puzzle From a Poster Board Without Tearing It Up

Many people who enjoy assembling jigsaw puzzles like to preserve the picture for display. After putting together a puzzle with thousands of pieces, it stands to reason you would want to show it off by gluing the pieces together then mounting the picture on a poster board. But you might later change your mind and want to remove the puzzle from its mounting---and you'll want to do it without damaging the pieces.

Things You'll Need

Glue solvent
Sponge or brush
Heavy plywood
Craft knife
Sandpaper

Instructions

- 1
  Turn your puzzle facedown. Coat the poster board on the back of the puzzle heavily with glue solvent so that it soaks in. Depending on what glue you have used to mount the puzzle, that solvent might be acetone or water. For ordinary water-soluble paper glue, such as Elmer's or library paste, water will do. Acetone will dissolve most other glues, including super adhesive.
- 2
  When the poster board is well-saturated with glue solvent, gently work it away from the puzzle pieces beneath it. Rather than peel off the pieces, peel up the poster board and leave the pieces flat on the table. Working from the back will also mean less solvent soaks into the puzzle pieces.
- 3
  Place the freed puzzle pieces beneath a heavy piece of plywood to keep them from swelling up with the solvent. Let them dry there.
- 4
  Cut apart any puzzle pieces that are still glued to each other after drying. Carefully run the tip of a craft knife along the seams at the back of the puzzle. If any glue remains, a fine-grit sandpaper can clean up the residue.

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