No, John Phillips you were not being overly fussy in getting all the
old glue off the pieces you were re-covering.  I have done the same now
for several decades of rebuilding.  However, let me inform you of a
faster way to get rid of the glue.  You are on the right track.  Take a
cloth folded to cover the whole area with glue on it.  Submerge the
cloth in hot water and squeeze it out to not drip.  Apply it to totally
cover the old glue.  Let it sit 5-10 minutes.

Scrape off the softened glue with a spatula, cabinet scraper, putty
knife, or razor blade.   With another cloth or a scrub brush, wipe or
scrub off the remaining glue.  In many cases you may run it under the
hot water when rinsing it off.  This only lasts a minute or two.
Continue until all slick spots are gone.  Pat dry and then thoroughly
dry it, either in the sun or in front of a fan, to dry it fairly fast --
within an hour.  Don't keep anything wet overnight or for any length
of time.  I have done this for over twenty years and have never had any
warpage.  Once the piece is dry, do your sanding and you are ready for
new glue.

Re your second question, about how to glue the circular pieces of pouch
leather used to reinforce the folding corners of pneumatics.  Those
circles should be fully glued down.  You must be careful about what you
apply these leather circles to, as well as how thick the leather is.
They are not a blanket panacea against future holes.  In fact they are
only appropriate for larger pneumatics.  When used on smaller pneumat-
ics, they can too often interfere with the closing of the pneumatic and
will cause hard spots in a wind motor.  If the pneumatic does not fully
close in its normal travel, you would probably be safe in using the
circles.  But if the leather folds flat, it will be like installing a
stiff spring to prevent the full closure of the pneumatic.  I recently
had to remove a set of these that were installed by another technician,
because they interfered with operation of the wind motor.

Also they do not prevent holes.  I have noticed the holes still devel-
oping there and also opening in the leather as well.  In an Aeolian
wind motor the pouch leather is absolutely necessary to cover the seams
at the fulcrum where the two pneumatics share the leather hinge on both
sides of the double pneumatics.

D.L. Bullock
Alton, IL