I hate to play Capt. Hindsight, but maybe you should have backed the brace off of the seam by a 1/16th or so. Now what you're left with is the hot compress treatment. Carpenters glue will soften up if you put hot towels on it and leave it on until the glue does soften. Be patient and don't worry. All is not lost.

Hot water/towel compresses until glue softens. It'll come off.

Hope this helps.

John

Ohhh no. You should have put some plastic sandwich wrap between the shim and the shell. Guess you have a extra piece of wood inside your drum. Maybe you can dislodge it with a exacto knife or something. But that wood glue is strong. DOH. Try Johns idea.

Wood glue? I thought we were talking Elmer's yellow carpenters glue. If you used a strong wood glue, that shim just became part of the drum. Or, you can try to cut it off like Vibes said.

John

If it is a PVA wood glue, some people have had success with white vinegar, take a google search on " PVA glue vinegar ".. you'll get some hits.

Cheers

Try John's idea to soften the glue. Also look up using steam. The good thing is the glue is not that old. I've removed 40+ year old glued re-rings with a wallpaper steamer. Just be careful and if it starts to get too wet, clean up the water and stop with the steam. Once the glue gets soft, carefully use a putty knife to get between the board and the shell. Good luck.

-Tim

Hey man, it could have been worse... much, much worse!

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20026529-10391704.html

John

I would find whatever tool, or combination of tools, that will work to remove the shim. Mini-hand planer, chisel, rasp, dremel, die-grinder with a gnarly tip, forstner bit on a drill with a LIGHT touch, There is something on my workbench (and yours tooflower) that would remove a shim glued to another piece of wood........

The guys opinions are valid and not for me to critique, but for me personally, I never purposely introduce water to vintage wooden things......... I find some other way to arrive at the same result, pretty much.

Toodles

Drumhack Sailing2Mallet Player2Burger KinBurger Kin

I am with drumhack here 100%, no water, no steam. Steaming can make other glued joints come apart, I know from experience. You just need to start carving away the board (or shim or whatever is glued to the shell) with a sharp chisel until you get to the glue, then sand it the rest of the way, bazinga!

Good point Drumhack and JCcabinets. We wouldn't want the shell plys to start separating.

Could you post some pictures, Jake? Maybe this will help generate some ideas.

-Tim