Wood floor under old vinyl tiles

[jsmedrano]

The kitchen in the 1936 house I just bought has a red fir floor under awful vinyl (asbestos?) tile with adhesive. I see that the most effective way to remove the adhesive is with the hot air gun, but am wondering if I will destroy the wood floor by all the scraping on the adhesive? I believe the only other option is to remove both the tile and the wood and start over. Laying something over the tile will raise the floor approximately 1/2 inch from the rest of the house. Thanks so much - I'll wait to hear from you experts!