Ken,
Nice to read that you had so much success in applying what you gleaned from here.
Before I fly a new aeroplane I read the POH and take note of the figures there but as soon as I have been up for a few minutes and am comfortably 'in the saddle' I will do some slow flying and stalls (both clean and in the landing configuration)
I use the figure of the stall in the landing configuration and multiply by 1.3 to get a sensible approach speed.
For most aeroplanes I fly that is a good ballpark figure to go by.
May not work for some more esoteric types as others have professed on here.
Have fun.
FD