Best way to remove vinyl sealer

[GitDiv]

Hi guys,

Just wondering how I can remove the vinyl sealer from a new Tiger Maple veneered carved top , so I can do the dye-sand back- dye trick to bring out the figure. Don't know whether I should sand, scrape, or maybe use denatured alcohol with a coarse scotch pad. Don't want to go through the veneer.

Ideas?

-Dave

 

[Watershed]

I'd try acetone with thick rubber gloves outside in a breeze.
I'd probably also stay away from waterbased stains after that.

Veneered carved top?

James

 

[GitDiv]

Well, it's a carved top mahogany body w/flamed maple veneer over the mahogany. Probably vacuum applied.

No water based dye? Why not? The possibility of left behind sealer? What makes it tough is the curved top. If it was flat, I'd use a razor blade. I don't have a curved furniture scraper. Maybe I should get one.

-Dave

 

[Mor Paul]

Is that a saga kit?
I've read plenty of things about people having trouble getting rid of the vinyl on there.
Check Guitarattack.com. Plenty of build stories on there. Maybe one will help.

 

[Watershed]

I'm just thinking, based on the description of the top, that it would be real easy to sand through the veneer, especially if you plan on sanding back the first application of stain later.
So, I'd try to keep all sanding to a minimum.

My comment about staying away from waterbased stain was on concerns of residual sealer being left in the wood.
Also, if this veneer is that thin, and there is glue behind it attaching it to the mahogany, I just can't imagine this top soaking up much waterabsed stain to begin with.

At least with a alcohol based stain, it will most likely mix with the sealer.
So even if you don't get all the sealer off, it should blend with the color better.

A razor blade??  This sounds like some really thick sealer.

Honestly, the stain and sandback technique sounds like it will be very challenging in this scenario.
I may consider just a tinted clear, but I'm not one to knock an ambitious project.

Good luck,
James

 

[GitDiv]

Hi, thanks for the reply.

I wasn't aware that alcohol based dye would mix with the vinyl sealer. In that case, I may just wash it with acetone and leave it at that. They just gave it a cursory shoot, anyway. It's not totally sealed, from what I can see. It's a kit from BYOG.com . There's no telling where it came from originally. The neck is very nice, though.

When I get the first staining stage done, I'll probably seal it and fill it with Epoxy, even though it's maple. Mike Doolin does it that way in his KTM-9 article for LMI . Then just shoot the final stain stages with aniline powder mixed in denatured alcohol, before I apply the final coats of waterborne lacquer. His process of shooting alcohol just before each coat of lacquer, to help it 'burn-in' , makes a lot of sense to me.
I may just give it a go, and if I totally mess it up, just get a Warmoth VIP body, and go from there.

Thanks for your info.

-Dave