Removing old laminate. Methods?

[Witchboard]

I'm working on a Donkey Kong cocktail and around the top it has imitation wood laminate.  It's pretty bad and I am going to replace it with iron on wood veneer.  The question is, what's the best way to remove it without damaging the wood underneath?  It looks to be put on with contact cement.  I was thinking that a heat gun may be my best bet, but I don't want to disturb the laminate on the table top.  Suggestions?

[NY_in_TX]

I've had good success with a heat gun, a scraper and some patience.

Somebody did it with an iron.  Which is frickin cool, but sounds slightly dangerous and difficult (which is what makes it cool).

depending on what kind of adhesive they used you may need to follow up with some goo gone or something similar.

[MonitorGuru]

4" wide old crappy (in other words, destroyable) putty knife and a small (do-it-"herself" type 8 ounce, not a big 16 ounce) hammer.  Get under a side and start tapping.  A heat gun might help loosen things.

[Hoagie_one]

i laid an iron on teh laminate to heat it up.  once its warm it peels off better than the hammer and chisle technique.  Still a pain.

[jcrouse]

Dynamite!

    
John

[Crazy Cooter]

Try a little laequor thinner.

[Witchboard]

Thanks for all the tips.  I don't have a heat gun but figured they were pretty cheap.  I guess I'll try a few things and if it doesn't look like it's going to go my way, I'll invest in another tool. 

[Witchboard]

Just thought I would post an update.  I used an old iron on the "cotton" setting.  Put the iron on the surface for a few seconds then started sliding it down the side, followed by a 3" putty knife.  Came off like butter.    I'll probably wipe it down with acetone or something before putting on the new veneer.  Thanks again for everybodies help.

[dphirschler]

Laquor thinner will remove the excess glue.  A belt sander will do it too.


Darryl

[Witchboard]

I'm going to try and stay away from sanding too much.  The top still has laminate and I don't want to risk chipping it around the edges.  I'm sure I'll find some kind of solvent that will work. 

[Crazy Cooter]

Laquor thinner wipes it right off.  That's what's used for removing overspray when building countertops.

[Witchboard]

I should be finishing it up this weekend.  I'll let you guys know how it went.  Thanks for the tips guys.