The aim of the restoration was to secure the area structurally and at the same time improving it visually by correcting the distortion and improving the retouching, and all of that with minimal invasion and maximum preservation of the original.

The lower part of this rib was badly worm eaten and distorted, apart from the cracks in the middle and some more wormtracks along the upper part of the rib.

After removing the old patches and the original lining, I cleaned the area and pressed it into a wooden counter-form. The lower part of the rib was extremely fragile, and bits of wood were coming apart easily and had to be re-glued. I secured the outside of the rib temporarily with Japanese paper, glued on with hide glue.

I used water-based wood filler to fill the wormtracks on the inside of the rib and secured the area with a strip of silk wider than the original lining which I then replaced over the silk. Luckily most of the area of the wormtracks was covered by the lining which encouraged me to keep the original, wormeaten rib.

Filler varnish application on the cracks I had glued.

To secure the edge of the rib, I had to glue a narrow strip of maple along it.

Improvement of the distortion of the rib.

I secured the inside of the rib with a plain maple veneer between the linings and a couple of strips of linen.