b'Then I moved on to another section, again leaving some of the bracing in place to hold everything together. More clamps, more pressure, forcing all those twisted and cracked areas flat on the outside surface. I would have liked to use rubber pads here, but when rubber is squashed, it spreads sideways, and pulls wood apart. Note the clingfilm to prevent the wrong bits sticking together, and a loose piece of soundboard taped to the top to prevent losing it. If I had put the loose piece anywhere else, I would never have found it again. There were five similar stages altogether. There was no need to remove all the bracing, as I knew it would disappear during the next stage. I cant count all the clamps in these photographs. The total clamping force on all five sections could have been twenty tons or more. The result after a light sanding, then again after more sanding. All the original braces are now gone. The white patches are where new wood has been forced into gaps and torn areas by the pressure, and all the separate broken pieces are aligned and held together by glue and tiny bits of spruce, in, and across the cracks. The final thickness of the wood is now only 1.4mm, and its obvious that the top had been very thin even before I started the repair. I really am surprised it has lasted this long. 216'