If the soldered components are of the 0.1 or 0.15 inch pitched type I would
suggest you apply a solder (spring operated piston) sucker instead of
desoldering braid

Frank-

I think it is a good idea to have both in your arsenal. I've used a
spring-piston sucker, as well as a squeeze-bulb sucker and solder wick, and
found that the spring-piston sucker had a rebound that damaged the traces of
the PCB.

If you are trying to recover components from a scrap PCB, the spring-piston
sucker would be most efficient so it would probably be your best choice. If
you do not want to damage the PCB, then perhaps the squeeze-bulb sucker or the
solder wick would be better.

I have used Radio Shack's solder wick since I don't have ready access to
anything better. It works, but I suspect they don't use as much flux in the
braid as they could.

Richard- I suggest you pay close attention to Michael A. Terrell's reply. He
described the way the professional repair people did it where I used to work.

73, Fred, K4DII