cross "B"east

[Kent Swafford]

I'm working on a B; nothing is gonna be easy on this piano, it seems.

The problem at hand: I have the piano de-strung. I would like to remove 
the "removable" cross strut from the plate, but so far it won't budge. 
I have pulled _hard_. (Yes, I removed the bolts first.:)

So my question is, how hard can I safely pull to get the thing off? I 
have no doubt that the judicious application of a crow bar would do the 
trick -- but would it be safe?

The restringing of the piano _will_ be completed Saturday, cross piece 
on or cross piece off. Any ideas, great gurus?

Kent Swafford