[Neil K Walk]

Thanks for the ideas, Charles. I hear you on the go-bars. The deck's not mine though I'm building my own for future builds. I don't like the nylon bars at all and am looking for a suitable wood. So far all I've found that's conveniently available is strips of pine that's roughly 1/4" x 1/2" and comes in lengths 16' long.

Good idea with the exacto knife too. Basically what I did this time was to score the top of the center strip then cut down as far as I could with a Japanese pull saw until I scored a piece of Frog tape that I laid down as insurance. After that it was basically chisel work with some sanding to clean out the slot.

For glue clean up, I saved a piece of scrap from the angled cut on one of the braces and wrapped it in a white t-shirt cloth soaked with naptha.