Comments on: Glue Renew Guru

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:55:35 +0000

Hmmm – sorry to hear that Jason. I’ve only seen the end result myself, but haven’t done the actual process, so I’m not sure what to say. From my conversation with Ron, it sounded pretty straight forward..?

By: jason

jason — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:39:23 +0000

I took my skins to my local dry cleaners, and while they had no problem running them through the dry clean process, NOTHING HAPPENED. the skins still had all the old glue, and some of the edging was deteriorated.

It seems to me the iron/hair dryer/scraper way might be just the way to go. maybe there are different methods of dry cleaning???

By: bs

bs — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 04:23:43 +0000

Regarding glue removal, I use a heat gun, similar to an industrial hair dryer and a scraper. The right touch with the heat, and the old glue comes off real easy. A stack of newspaper takes the glue off the scraper as long as you wipe it off immediately while still hot. A perfectly clean pair of wide skins in about 10-15 minutes.

By: grenalds

grenalds — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:59:39 +0000

Ron, thanks for chiming in. I’m gonna give your Red Hanger a shot. But I’m not sure I’m emotionally prepared for another shut-down.

I got my fingers crossed. By the way, your re-glue is a thing of beauty.

By: d3 voiceworks

d3 voiceworks — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:40:31 +0000

“This is how my glue job turned out because I yam sofa king we ta did. Sad.”

oh my sofa king hell !

By: ron

ron — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:28:21 +0000

Hey grenalds, I took mine to Red Hanger a few weeks ago on 17th So. & Foothill. $3 each and got em back the same day. I explained what they were and their only concern was to make sure I was aware that they would not be responsible for any damage to the skins. The horrid glue mess didn’t seem to bother them at all. Thanks to Klaus on telemarktips for the dry cleaner tip.
http://telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=877286&highlight=#877286

It was Andrew’s idea to lay down a (very) thin base coat of Gold Label which did a great job of sealing the absorbent canvas backing. I just used a putty knife and spread it as thin as I could and then let it dry for a day before using the Renew strips.

I think the real trick on the Renew strips was running the iron hot enough. After heating the first few inches my wife sent me outside, no sense both of us dying from the fumes. Indoors I was able to keep the iron temperature stable but out in the cold I finally just turned it up close to full bore and kept the iron moving. The backing paper has a slick (silicon?) layer laminated to a paper layer that you run the iron over. Too much heat and the paper/silicon bubbles so I just kept moving trying to heat it just short of bubbling and it worked like magic…way better and faster than my best Gold Label job (and I’ve done sofa king many).

By: grenalds

grenalds — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:42:08 +0000

I actually went to 4 drycleaners in the SLC area asking to clean skins. I was shot down in dramatic fasion 4 outta 4 times.

Perhaps Ron can provide a drycleaner recommendation? Cuz it sounds too good to be true. I’d love to hear of a willing and able cleaner though…

I’ve also hear some kind of electric (plug-in) hot scraping tool works really well too. I’m also at a loss where to aquire one of those.

By: brian harder

brian harder — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:41:18 +0000

Wow, that dry cleaner beta just might be the tip of the new millenium! The process of cutting brown bags into strips and repeatedly ironing them on and removing them from my nailed-to-the-table skins is almost ritualistic at this point. Then there is that strange cross between bummer headache and toluene buzz you get after painstakingly applying new Gold Label. Letting them dry open for a couple of days seems to keep the thin coat in place and I like the thin layer I get. I think I will pass on the reglue strips but love the dry cleaner idea. Time to get motivated! Race skins are one thing but those fatties are a beat down.

By: Chuck

Chuck — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:46:56 +0000

I’m too lazy to redo the glue…This past Sunday my skins were coming off after lap 4. I borrowed my partner’s knife to cut a portion of the center skin tape. Worked like a charm to get the 5th and 6th laps in. There’s enough tape left for me to do this several more times before needing to reglue. But when that times comes, I’ll know to go to the cleaners. Thanks.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:28:34 +0000

Hi Mark – I use a “Speedy Stitcher” to sew the tips of my skins together, which I learned about through a reader comment on an earlier posting on StraightChuter. After buying it (about $10) I can’t believe I’ve lived so long without one. Very handy.