Hi, Hesh! I've been inactive a bit. Glad to see you back on here!
And thanks!

This thing.

Mike the hook tool from SM for clearing fret slots works great. Be sure to pull toward the center of the neck and not the binding. It should be at SM near the saw that you are describing.

With no experience of binding fretboards... would an alternative glue be easier to handle? Less likely to clog the fret kerf?

Probably.
I used CA because I mistakenly bought vinyl bindings, and from advice on this forum was advised that my preferred Duco may not bond it well to the wood. I had the CA already, and did not want to place an order with Stewmac for their Bind-all cement alone.
I bound the body with Duco and it is holding, but knowing now there is a possibility of failure down the road, I chose super glue for the neck binding because the neck will see more use than the body.
I also discovered that if I apply water thin CA from the back side of the fretboard there is less of a chance of this happening, and I believe the glue wicked in far enough that flooding the binding from the back is doable.
I quite like the CA method for this type of job, and will use it again in future.

You may have done this, but just in case. With the binding clamped in place to the fretboard, spraying the binding/fretboard joint with accelerator, letting it flash off, and then applying the thin CA with a whip tip reduces the amount of CA that can migrate into the fret slots. Also, the CA doesn't need to be applied continuously along the length of the fretboard. I think of it as spot welding the binding to the fretboard between the fret slots.

That's the tool I've been using for years for that job.

Warning! Warning! Use it with patience and care. Take your time and focus. For a given slot, gradually remove the CA a bit at a time. If you try to take too much CA in one pull and you are pulling hard on the tool and the CA doesn't give, stop and reposition it to take a smaller bit of the CA. If you are pulling hard and the CA suddenly lets loose, there's a good chance you'll end up with a scratch in the surface of the fretboard. If you get in a hurry and pull toward the binding rather than switching your position so you can pull away from the binding and the CA lets loose, you can end up with a hole through the binding that has to be repaired ( ).

Hesh has nailed it here. Exactly the tool I’ve used for the task — more times than I care to confess. Even with the tool, CA is very resistant, so I also use pipette to add a bit of acetone to soften it. Provided the neck is not finished, acetone flashes off quick enough to avoid issues, but use common sense. When the offending glue is softened, there is less chance of doing damage to the slot or binding by using too much force. Take your time.


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With no experience of binding fretboards... would an alternative glue be easier to handle? Less likely to clog the fret kerf?

I put a small flame on a propane torch and heat the tip of an exacto knife and it cuts right through glue. Of course I let it cool just a tad and don’t touch plastic binding if I’ve used plastic.

Yeah, putty knife and blowtorch. Don't huff the fumes...

I wouldn't know, I'm non huffer:)