Removing unwanted expoxy squeeze-out

I’m planning to stop by Woodcraft this afternoon to ask their input as well, but here’s what happened:

I’m building a frame for my wife for a Mother’s Day present. It’s tiger maple with santos mahogany trim. The maple is already dyed & oiled; the mahogany is as yet unfinished. I’m planning to go with a wiping varnish over the whole thing.

Unfortunately, gluing the maple into the mahogany trim (I glued each up separately to ensure good corners) didn’t go so well. There were some gaps and I thought I’d just spread some epoxy in them to fill & bind—the gaps are all on the back side of the frame, so who’d ever see? I clamped the piece face-down on my workbench and did exactly that.

Woe was me a few hours later when I removed the clamps. The frame had stuck to the piece of hardboard I was using to protect the frame’s face, and I mean it was STUCK. Lots of epoxy had run down the mahogany and a slight bead had formed along one edge where the maple and mahogany meet.

I’ve been able to remove much of the larger spill by going at it first with a chisel and then following up with sandpaper (80 grit for now—I’ll clean it up with higher grits later) but was wondering if there’s a better way to remove the epoxy that’s up against the maple? I really don’t want to have to sand it all down and refinish it again but if I have to, I will.

Also, how far down do I need to sand? Until I can’t see any more darkness from where the epoxy soaked in a bit?

Thanks. Feeling rather stupid, especially since I remember thinking, “I wonder if any will spill through? No, that couldn’t happen….”

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