You can get dissecting needles on Amazon, or Carolina biological. If you happen to live near a biggish college or university, you can also get them at the student store, since they're standard equipment for freshman biology labs. If you've got a particular crack you're trying to clean out, it's not a bad idea to check out such a student store, because they often have all manner of weird tools in the biology dissection and art areas.
As for alcohol, you can get some pretty high grade methanol (70%) at a pharmacy. Some states in the US sell everclear (100% ethanol) which is another dandy solvent, as is cheap, unflavored vodka (70% ethanol).
I'm a big fan of slow and steady. The alcohol will dehydrate the wood somewhat, so if you heat stress it too often, you may develop a crack. The key thing is that alcohol evaporates at a low temperature, so you don't have to get your oven very hot to drive it off. HOWEVER, alcohol vapors are also flammable, so I strongly recommend low heat and an electric oven, not a gas oven, unless you like blue flames. Remember also that if you evaporate a solvent, you're likely to end up breathing some of it. With ethanol, this isn't much of a problem, but other things are rather more toxic. I do suggest reading the warning label before playing with it.
My 0.00002 cents,
F
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