[VAC] Re: refinish, glue residue, sander suggestion

[Dan Weeks <theprofileco@xxxxxxx>]

Don and others:

I had wondered about that--the veneer under the vinyl on my Argosy looks
great, and I'd thought about stripping the vinyl off and finishing the
veneer, but obviously the glue residue problem would need solving. Anyone
out there had any luck with any kind of solvent or stripper? Share it, and
liberate potentially hundreds of '70s coaches from vinyl!

Also--re: sanding veneer. I find sanding faster, cheaper, less messy, and
more uniform than stripping. The trick is a good sander. Most old fashioned
orbital sanders are horrible--heavy, noisy, slow, hard to control, eat
paper. Get a Porter Cable "Quicksand", Model 333. About $60 at Home Depot,
with the hook-and-loop fasteners. After going through 3 cheap sears sanders
in rapid succession, I asked the folks at WOOD magazine what was the best
finishing sander, and this was it. It is an amazing machine. Smooth, fast,
lightweight, small, easy to control, produces an incredibly smooth finish,
and sandpaper lasts forever. I've refinished 17 pieces of furniture, five
coats of poly each, sanding between all coats, two oak floors, a boat, and
countless other items with mine, and it is still going strong and a joy to
use. Also, you can get a foam rubber wax applicator pad for it that you can
use to wax and polish vehicles with. I've done five cars and my 26' argosy
with it, and used it with polish to remove oxidation from fiberglass
gel-coat on my boat and in my argosy's bath. One of the best machines I own.
Paid for itself in stripper and sandpaper many times over.

Dan
75 Argosy 26