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@gbj_tester
That drawing is wrong; if your quill stem hits the butt of the steerer tube, something is wrong. Can be an issue with very short head tubes (e.g. lo-pro), hence the need to shorten the quill on the stem if you want to get it all the way down.
It is true that conical expanders get stuck and can be released by unscrewing the bolt until it's a couple of mm free of the stem and then giving it a little tap, and the wedge expanders rarely get that stuck, but the problem with the rusty Holdsworth is going to be galvanic welding of the quill to the tube.