: yeah, I know.

: My original thought was that there was no really good way to fix the problem
: without a saw... I thought I'd ask, and put up some of the things I was
: hopeing somone would say 'I tried that, worked great', or 'I had the same
: problem, here is what I did...'

: you are right though I can try a 'myrl type' aproach, if that failed, break
: out the old saw and have at it the proper way.

: hmm think I'll spend alot for the day at work thinking of an wooden art
: design that I can 'fill' the hollow with.

: thanks for the input.

: Myrl

If you may fill it in w/ a decoration, you then can't go wrong trying to fix it your and pete rudies way w/ the water as you'll be covering it up anyway. You may need quite a long application of water(say 2-3 days depending on the original glue jt tightness-quite amazing that it takes so long for some areas).I've done a fair bit of this for many reasons and the success is not too bad if careful and slow -gentle working of the strips help when some movement is possible. I would think that only a slight opening up spread over a bunch of strips may be necessary - probably hardly noticeable and is way less intervention than adding some decoration to an unplanned area.

a second line of thinking may be to saw between the strips on the exact other side and make the other side match this slight dip. sand fair to match.

be careful w/ the water and just keep it very damp not dripping, use a rag or sponge that has no color and keep an eye on moving stains. try to mask the outside so don't have water everywhere.

basically you can't lose by trying to fix it if you may fill it in anyway.

-mick