Another pic...

You have the correct idea to smooth out the shell. Don't pull that mahogany ply off. Was it putty or wood filler you used ? Can you scrape the putty off or did it dry hard ? Get some of that Elmers wood gouge filler. It comes in a plastic squeeze tube. It's basically a wood filler, and comes in different colors. Fill in the places missing the outer ply, smooth it out with a putty knife or spatula, and hand sand until it is all even. It will be fine. It's going to look splotchy but when the shell is smooth it will be fine. Then wrap it. If you don't want that shell, or not want to fool with It. I'll take and fix it. I have fixed similar ply loss that came off when removing the wrap and it turned out great.

It's dunhams rock hard water putty. The powder you mix with water.

When I tried to sand some of the high spots a lot if it just falls off.

I would like to keep it. Surprisingly it's not part of the other shells in the picture. I also have an 8x12 and 14x20 that I still have to plug and wrap.

due to a an incident involving a 16 year old version of me, a hole saw, and modular hardware.DOH

Well, maybe clean as much of that putty off as you can and try that Elmers gouge filler. It definately worked for me. I didn't have quite as much ply missing but it should still work. It drys pretty fast if a thin layer, like a ply layer and sands nice too.

I removed the entire outer ply on a drum like that once, it came right off. I then covered it with new veneer, no big deal.

To me it was much better than patching it to death.

Only took 3 beers

I just knew you'd be the one to have done that before, mr cabinets.

Even if I could get the ply off, adding a veneer would be rocket science for me. By the way it is a lap joint shell. Don't know if that's what you had.

The elmers gouge filler sounds easier, I'm not going for a wood finish.

What to do...

The consensus warning on that mahogany ply is, don't sand it too much because it's thin and you'll go right through it. 'Nuff said.

But I'm going to say more. Get a cheap orbital palm sander and go right through that thin ply. 180 grit. Bam! Just keep it moving following the contour of the shell, and avoid the next ply down. I see you're in California so doing it outdoors will be no problem, and everyone loves the sound of an orbital palm sander.

It's like a giant mosquito, very annoying. But it won't take long, and in fact you don't have to get it all off, just smooth it out to where that double layer of excellent foamy 3M77 can take up the slack [assuming you are wrapping this shell].

This is the slacker's route to an imperfect player's floor tom. :)

Mitch

Yes mine was lapped too, I just sanded it down smooth. I would still remove it or sand it away like Mitch says (everyone loves the sound of a sander,he he ), that is if the remaining mahogany is unstable. If it is still pretty solid then fill it in but those are pretty big areas to get flat, and you want to end up with a nice flat surface even if you wrap it in real nice heavy delmar wrap. If that mahogany is all loose, scrape it off and wrap it, the new wrap will replace that layer of wood. If you do what Mitch said, then you will qiuckly find out where the loose stuff is, just be careful to not sand the poplar layer too much.

So here's what I got. I realize sometimes my clubdates are confusing.

'64 sparkling silver clubdate 12/14/20 I added a 9x13 tom I found on eBay painted black for cheap. The 12 and 20 have the wrap off of them because of the big holes I drilled. The 13" and 14" are in pretty good condition, the 13 needs repainting inside and the 14 has extra holes from the regular floor tom brackets.

1965 WMP clubdate combo 12/20 this is the set I would like to add the nasty floortom to. While the retrobright got the color back the wrap is really brittle and I'll probable end up wrapping this one too.

1967 sparkling blue Hollywood or rock duo. Just a collection of orphan '67 shells in varying condition. The snare and floortom are in excellent condition, the 12" has bad snare rash, the 13 is a tad faded.

Last is a 14x14" in WMP with elongated lug holes ( somebody put Pearl lugs on it!) and mounted a diamond plate over the breather hole.

I also have a 6 ply b/o concert tom shell I'd like to make into a 6.5 snare.