The Repair Shop (2017–…): Season 12, Episode 4 - Microscope and a swinging bench - full transcript
The team repair a microscope that belonged to a pioneering scientist, a pair of boots that protected a prisoner of war during WWII and a bench that needs a complete overhaul.
Welcome to The Repair Shop...
Oh, my goodness! ..where precious
but faded keepsakes...
That is proper crushed!
..are restored to their former
glory. Zha-zhing! Zha-zhing!
Can I get finished now, please?
Yes! A dream team of expert
craftspeople...
I'm absolutely chuffed to bits!
Fantastic! Brilliant!
Yes! Look at that!
..using traditional techniques
passed down the generations...
Perfecto! It's almost magic. Nothing
better than a plan that works!
..restore irreplaceable treasures...
Oh, my God! Look at that!
It's perfect!
..and unlock the stories they hold.
BELL PINGS
Happy tears! It feels more magical!
I just want to hug everybody!
INAUDIBLE CHATTER
AND LAUGHTER
First into the Barn today,
a scientific marvel that played
a role in one of the 20th century's
most important discoveries.
It belongs to eight-year-old Felix,
who's accompanied by his dad, Sam.
Ooh! Hello! Hello. How are you
doing? Good, thanks. How are you?
I'm very good. I can't complain.
Hello. All right?
Dad? Dad, yeah.
OK. So... Dad, son. Dad, son.
Box, what's in it?
In the box is a microscope.
Richard, do you mind joining us?
Sure. I've got something
you might like here.
Ooh, yeah. With his eyes on the
prize, optics expert Richard Biggs.
Whoa! There we go. Aha!
Gosh, that's a real microscope!
You said a microscope,
you didn't say a work of art!
That is unbelievable!
Who's going to tell us about this?
It was made in 1890.
So, this was my great-grandfather's.
Yeah.
His name was John Desmond Bernal.
OK.
He unfortunately died long before
I was born. He was a scientist
crystallographer in the early
20th century.
And what is that? What does that
do? A crystallographer is a person
who studies the way cells form. Wow!
Yeah, his work was a precursor
to lots of interesting,
amazing discoveries.
His students went on to discover
the structure of the double helix
structure of DNA. Cor blimey!
So, he was very important
to amazing DNA-based medicines
and things we're having now.
Wow! Are you inspired by science?
Yes.
I'm third best in science in my
class... That's a good start, yeah.
And I just want to do
cool things with it.
Maybe go on to a Nobel Prize,
or at least be better than
Albert Einstein.
Really? Why not?
No, go on... Aim high.
Yeah, that's the way to do it.
Everyone starts somewhere. Yeah.
Here's your starting point.
Mine is here. Yeah.
So, what's actually wrong with it?
So, there's bits of rust
scattered around. OK.
Um, the mirror's damaged there,
around the edges. Yeah.
And we also might need this.
That's a bit rusty.
So, you can't see through...
Not properly. I don't think
the lenses are working properly
because we can't, like, directly
see the cells.
Right.
So, all we really see is just blobs.
So, the microscope needs work,
obviously,
because you can't see stuff
through it, but the box...
It's got a bit wear and tear to it.
Right. And it just needs
a little bit of love.
So, if we get this fixed, what's the
first thing you're going to look at?
It's either going to be
cucumber skin, carrot,
or, um, some dog muscle. Dog muscle?
Just to clarify,
we have that on a slide.
We're not going to take
that off a real dog.
OK, I was just about to say.
Yeah. OK.
Everything under there
will appear magic, wow!
It's so different,
looking at micro...
Absolutely. There's a whole world.
Yes, absolutely. Whole different
microscopic world. Mm-hm. Yeah.
Well, listen, both of you, thank you
for bringing this in. No, thank you.
Thank you. Yeah. It's going to be
a real joy. Good to meet you.
We look forward to seeing it
when it's done. You take care now.
Thank you. RICHARD: Good to see you,
bye-bye. Bye.
This is where the fun starts. This
is a rather impressive instrument.
There's this super iris
mechanism here,
it's like a camera lens iris, which
controls the light that's going up.
So, when the light hits that mirror,
it sends it up through the slide,
so you can see it.
So, the flat side is absolutely
awful, so what I'm going to do
is take it off and that can be
sent off to be re-silvered.
The whole frame needs to be just
polished up a little nicer.
Job number one, see if I can get
an image. Let's put a lens in.
Let me get a slide that's got
something in it.
Oh, golly! I'm not seeing
anything at the moment.
So I'm going to have to figure
out what is happening.
Hmm!
Right.
Next, to test the talents of cobbler
Dean Westmoreland is Malcolm,
with a wartime souvenir
that tells an incredible tale of
bravery and resilience.
How are we doing? Fine, thanks.
Hello. Hello.
Now, those look like well used
boots. Whose are they?
They were my dad's boots when he was
a prisoner of war in World War II
and he marched in these through
miles of Germany
and probably Poland as well. Whoa!
What's his name? Jack. Jack. Yeah.
So, when did Jack join the Army?
When war was imminent, he and his
two brothers joined up straightaway.
They soon went across to Norway.
I think it was the beginning
of 1940.
And there, he was captured.
Never saw the fighting.
He just saw imprisonment
for the duration of the war.
He was a prisoner of war
for the whole of the war?
Yeah, for five years, yeah.
He kept quiet about it,
really. Yeah.
But after he died,
we found the diary that he'd kept
throughout the war. Seriously?
Yeah, and it's from the beginning
of 1942 to the time the Americans
took him home.
But the circumstances in which he
was imprisoned were horrific. Yeah.
You know, he speaks of a long period
of starvation, almost, in 1942.
Yeah. I think little things
like that can make you realise
how awful it must have been. Mm.
It's hard for us to comprehend,
isn't it? Mm.
What they would have gone through.
Yeah.
Does your dad mention
the boots in the diary? Not as such,
but he would be wearing them,
especially in the snowy
conditions in winter.
There's a very good description
somewhere in here.
"The Germans put us,
7,000 men, to march by night
"towards south Germany.
Marching by night, sleeping by day,
"outside, or in barns.
"Through exposure, hands, lips,
face, badly chapped.
"I had dysentery most of the way,
same as 90% of the others."
Mm.
So, these boots have
a lot of history. Yes.
So, what would you like Dean to
do to the actual boots?
I can see the back is coming apart.
Yeah.
I don't know what can be done,
if anything,
about the moths that have had
a good go at them. Yeah.
But, you know, if the stitching
was done, a bit of the sole
and heeling and... Yeah. But you
don't want them looking brand-new.
Not brand-new, no,
but just tidying up a bit.
They would remind us of him,
wearing these boots.
His indefatigable courage,
not ever wanting to give up.
In fact, when he got home,
I do remember him
trudging through the snow in them
when I was a little boy. Really?
Yeah. He carried on wearing them.
Yeah, he carried on wearing them.
If ever it snowed, he wore them.
When he was trudging to his office,
in deep snow,
he would have us following him.
My younger brother would have
been five. Yeah.
He got about 200 yards
and it came above his knees and so,
Dad let him go home. Yeah. I was
seven, probably got half a mile.
Yeah. And then he sent me home,
but...
But he... He...
He just carried on.
Yeah.
Just to work.
Not as a starving prisoner. Yeah.
Mm.
There's not only
memories of the war,
but memories of my childhood
as well.
And honouring... Mm.
..you know,
what he'd gone through. Yeah.
Malcolm, thank you for bringing
these in. Thank you as well.
I'll do my best for them. You take
care now. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye.
All right, then. Take care. Bye-bye.
Wow!
Them boots were definitely
made for surviving, weren't they?
Yeah, they need some work on them.
Should come up nicely. Nice one.
Good luck with it. Cheers, mate.
These boots are really
blowing my mind, really.
I can't believe how old they are
and what they've been through.
The things that Jack must have
endured while wearing these,
it's really quite hard
to comprehend.
The major damage is quite
obvious here,
where it needs re-stitching
and glueing.
There's some moth-eaten
holes in the felt here.
This heel block is really quite
deteriorated.
I think I need to build him a new
heel block, so that they sit right.
And they stand right
and they look proud, as they should.
Before I can do anything,
though, I really need to give all
the leather a clean,
make it a bit more supple.
There's over 70 years of muck
and grime in there.
Even that little small section there
has pulled off so much black!
This is going to be quite
an extensive clean job, I think.
But it will be worth it.
Even instantly, that is
softer and I can
feel it would be nicer to work with.
Having carried out a forensic
examination of the acclaimed
scientist's microscope, Richard has
made his own critical discovery.
Young Felix was saying
he could only see blobs.
I also can only get blobs.
Having looked at the eyepiece,
it's nice and clean,
but the bottom lens is missing.
If I look at one of my own
eyepieces,
you've got a lens at the top
and you've got a lens at the bottom.
You've got to have
the system at the top,
which then works through
the lens at the bottom, which is...
The combination makes
the magnification,
so I'm hoping to source a new
eyepiece, so the next stage
is actually to start de-rusting
one or two tiny parts.
This is a graphic art eraser,
tiny little fibres in a bundle.
I've had one of these
in my tool box for years.
It's just like a little
scrubbing brush,
but it's very effective
for getting rust off.
I'll just work my way round this,
tidying it up.
The whole frame needs to be
just polished,
to make it look a bit prettier.
I've spent quite
a bit of time on the microscope,
getting that all smart.
The box is quite good for its age,
considering it's 132 years.
The big thing is there's a crack
all the way up there.
The first job is to get some
wood glue in that crack.
The whole point of having
a good box to store
the microscope in is to keep it
away from the dust and the fungus
and temperature change and the thing
about any optics is that
there's fungus spores in the air
get sucked in and out with
the diurnal variation...
That's a nice phrase.
..which means the temperature change
causes the optics to
act like a mini bellows
and they're sucking it in
and pushing it out and the fungus
spores get in as well.
I'll let it dry.
And then get on with the buffing
and cleaning.
Now, to actually see
if the crack has set.
Oh, yeah. That's worked.
Um, so, now I can
get on to the outside of the case.
This is a magic potion
that I've borrowed from Will.
It's got raw linseed oil,
white spirit and something else,
but it works.
Of course, being Will's, it would
work, wouldn't it? Would work...
Yeah, course it would.
As Richard does his best
to emulate Will's skills,
the real deal is taking delivery of
the latest assignment.
Krishna from Hertfordshire
has arrived to tell him
all about this intriguing
piece of heritage furniture.
Hi. Hi, there.
Hi, I'm Krishna.
This must be your bench.
Yes, it is. It's a swing.
Really? Yes.
If you see the sides, it has got
four hooks and you put the chains
around the hooks and then you attach
that to the beams of the ceiling
and that's how you hang it indoors.
I've never seen an indoor
swinging bench.
Where's it from? It's from Gujarat.
That is west part of India.
And it's been in my family
for a very long time.
How long is a long time?
My uncle has accounted it for 125
years. That's a long time!
That is a long time!
It belonged to my great-grandfather,
who gave it to my grandfather,
who gave it to my father, and I'm
the lucky one who inherited it.
So, there's a lot of history there.
Yes.
So, I have got lovely memories.
My dad used to put me to sleep
when I was little, like,
I would lie down, he would sit next
to me, sing and I would fall asleep.
Really? And my grandmother and me
used to always fight about
who was going to sit on it,
because when I went to school,
she would be on it.
When I came home, I'd be like,
"You've been sitting on it all day.
"It's time for me now!"
So, there was always
a bit of a fight for the bench.
Yes. I hang on to those memories,
they're very dear to me.
Very often, they do come
flooding in about my grandparents,
especially my dad, cos
I lost my dad at a very early age.
So, I'm not possessive about
material things, but this one, I am.
It's just part of me.
A couple of years ago, when I had
health problems, um, and
I used to come back after my chemo,
I used to just come and lie down on
the bench and it just made me
feel good. You get very tired with
chemo. Every morning, I would just
have my coffee
and then I would be lying on it with
my little blanket on and that's it.
I used to feel very comforted
because I just felt I was in...
My family was around me.
So, this means a lot.
What exactly would you like me
to do with this bench?
If you sit on it right now,
the whole thing shakes a bit.
I'm not going to fall through
the bench? No, no, you won't.
You won't, it's just the whole
thing is a bit shaky
and you can tell
when you sit on it...
You see? Oh! There you go.
I feel like I'm swinging!
But not the right... Right way of
swinging, yeah. ..type of swinging.
This back sounds slightly creaky.
Yeah. Mm-hm.
What are these bits here for?
A friend of mine, he came
to my rescue and said, "I'm not
"a carpenter, but I will try to put
this as much as I can together."
The bracket's probably helped
it from further damage
and it's kind of kept it all intact.
Yes, it has.
But I think I'm going to have a
challenge on my hands. I might need
some help with the upholstery,
but, yeah, it would be nice
to get it up swinging again.
Thank you so much.
I'll see you soon. Bye-bye.
Take care. Bye-bye.
I'm surprised no-one has actually
fallen through this bench yet,
because it's really quite rickety.
Look at that.
This foam is quite hard.
So I might have a word
with Sonnaz and see
if she can do something with it.
Pop that under there.
At the moment,
this bench looks really dull.
I think it's made of teak.
It would be really nice
if I can take this back to the
original wood and repolish it.
I think it would look just the part.
The entire bench is going to need
a lot of strengthening.
This leg, in particular,
is pretty bad,
but I'm going to start off by
removing these newly added brackets.
Oh, my gosh! So, these metal
brackets were really actually
keeping the whole of the back
in place.
I think I'm going to have to
completely dismantle this
and I might have to remake
some of these joints as well.
It's going to be a really big job.
Also restoring structural strength,
Dean,
as he overhauls
the prisoner of war boots.
So, it's really quite satisfying
to get the old heel block off.
And I've got rid of all that
old leather.
There's no way I could have
reconditioned this.
It's almost like cardboard, really.
I'll rebuild the heels in the same
way that they were built originally.
A lot of modern
ones are plastic units,
they've got on the bottom of shoes.
But you will always see those
lines in the heel and that's
kind of a throwback to this
traditional layered heel building.
So, first layer on. I'm just going
to roughly trim that edge.
And it's really just
a case of repeating this process.
Glue and layer, glue and layer,
and then trim.
So, I'll need the heel to sit flat,
once all the layers are on.
What I'm looking for is
a slight gap at the front,
where you can maybe get
a finger or two under.
If I have too low a heel, that will
feel like you're leaning backwards
when you wear them.
If you have too high a heel, it
feels like you're leaning forwards.
So, it's really important to get
that balance right.
And looking at this,
that needs at least one more layer
under there to make it right.
So, I'm going to continue
this process on both boots,
sand them smooth.
This back bit, this counter, some of
the stitches were pretty much dust,
so I'm going to sew this back up
and get some strength
and structure back in there.
I don't want to get any stitch
wrong on this, not a single one,
so I'm just taking it nice and slow,
doing one stitch at a time.
Ensuring that I hit every
original stitch hole.
Trying to be as sensitive
as possible to the boot, really.
And I can move on to this
upper part.
And try and tackle this felt
and where all the holes are.
Oh-ho-ho-ho!
Now, this is really,
really old felt.
It's really thick
and very compressed.
The holes are moth-eaten
and it's where the moths have taken
flight and left these holes.
It's really outside my comfort zone.
I don't really work with felt.
But I'm always up for the challenge.
So I came up with
the idea of plugging the holes.
I'll feed a little bit of glue
into each hole.
And before it dries,
I'll get some felting wool
and then feed the felting wool in.
Now, once it's in there with
the glue, it blends quite well
and as that dries,
I can then trim it off.
There's quite a lot of work
to do here.
There's a lot of holes to fill
on both sides of the boots.
So, I really need to
persevere with this.
The microscope that revealed
a century of scientific secrets
is almost ready to start its next
phase of discovery.
Everything's coming along
quite nicely.
Everything is smooth
and greased and slides.
That's good.
This is the original eyepiece and
this is a new one. It just drops in.
Time to put a slide in
and actually see that it works.
I've got a selection of slides
all prepared.
Right. The mirror...
The mirror is done.
Nice new shiny mirror on there.
Oh, there it... Oh, wow!
That's great!
That's better than I thought. Better
than I thought it would come up.
Oh, this is magic.
There's one here that says
Gypsophila paniculata...
Pina colada?!
Petal. That's not pina colada!
I like repairing things like this
and then looking through
a microscope is magic.
What you see is you get that wow!
And I'm sure Felix is going to be
just as bowled over.
He's just going to have so much fun.
This microscope once supported the
work of one of the 20th century's
most influential scientists,
Felix's great-grandfather.
Today, Felix and Sam have returned,
hopeful that the microscope
can become a launchpad for Felix's
own journey of discovery.
Here he is. Hi, Dom. Hi, Richard.
Hi. How are we going, Felix?
Good, thanks. How are you?
Good to see you. Hi, guys.
Felix, are you excited? Yes, very.
The excitement is going
round the family.
It's a subject of conversation
at the moment. Definitely. Yeah.
And my school. Oh,
and school as well? Yeah, everyone.
Everyone knows about it.
Very exciting. That's great.
There's a huge amount of family
history with this microscope,
isn't there? Absolutely.
It's incredible, isn't it?
And then Felix is the next
chapter of this story, hopefully.
Do you want to see it?
Yes, please. Go on, Richard.
He's managed not to peek! Well done!
Right, are you ready for this? Yeah.
Wow! Oh!
That looks amazing!
Honestly, just amazing!
Yeah, that's...so good!
Thank you! You're welcome.
He did de-rust it, look. Yeah.
What was it you wanted
to look at first?
What's it going to be? A slice
of carrot or cucumber. Right.
What is it? Wow! What can you see?
What can you see?
A holey cheese crossed
with a postage stamp!
Yeah! That's amazing! Thank you!
I'll never look at a piece
of cucumber in the same way again!
The amazing things you see under
a microscope. Yeah!
Felix, this is the first time you've
been able to look through
this properly...
Yes. ..since you've had it. Yes.
Just like your great-grandfather
did, all those years ago. Yeah.
So... How does that feel?
Amazing, exciting and...
Yeah, it's just amazing.
To take this in to show your school
friends, you're going
to need to put it in something,
aren't you? Yeah, the box!
Oh, it's cleaned and polished.
There you go. Thank you.
Ready to take to school. Yeah.
Felix, are you all set? Yeah. Locked
in, ready to go? Yeah. Brilliant.
Well, that is yours to take away
and enjoy. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Richard.
Very best of luck in the future.
Cheers. Take care. Bye.
Thank you, bye.
The sweetest kid. Mm.
Love that.
Knowing how much history this
microscope has, I feel happy,
inspired, honoured to just have this
and being able to play with it
whenever I want, really.
He can go in a hundred
different directions.
I can't wait to see where you go
with it. Well... Let's go.
What do you think this is, then?
What's it made of?
It looks like marble. Is it?
Marble sculpture?
It's certainly very heavy.
It's very heavy!
The mystery object belongs to Maria
and she's hoping the sculptural
skills of Kirsten Ramsay can
restore its beautiful curves.
Hello. How are you doing?
I'm all right, thank you.
I was just asking Kirsten
if she could tell me what this is.
It's a... It's a sculpture
that my mum made. Oh, wow!
She was an artist...
Yeah. ..in Buenos Aires.
I'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
OK. And what is it?
What is it a sculpture of?
It's part of a triptych,
so there are three pieces and a
wooden base, like this one. Yeah.
They are different
stages of something... Right.
..that's growing.
I mean, this is like a seed,
or the beginning... OK.
..then beginning to germinate,
like something is coming out... OK.
..and then, there is the third one,
that is like kind of winged...thing.
Wow! You know, you would say to her,
"What is this?"
She will go, like, "What do you
think it is? What do you see?"
And she will go,
"Ah, that's what you see."
She sounds great!
So, what's mum's name?
Betina. Betina.
So, how did your mum make this?
She carved it. It took her, three
pieces, around two years. Whoa!
Two years? Yeah.
She was very proud of this piece.
Really proud.
And the triptych is the last
piece that she finished.
OK. Yeah,
she was preparing a solo exhibition.
Um, she was beginning to be
recognised. Mm.
But then, she passed away in 2003,
January. OK.
We were very close.
We were really good friends.
We travelled together and she was
quite young when I was born.
She was 24, so, you know, as adults,
in a way, we felt very close and she
would come to Europe and we would go
to museums to look at sculptures
and talk about that, so, you know,
we had a great time together.
OK. Yeah, my mum was a little bit
crazy. And, yeah, it was fun.
It was good.
So, how did this get broken?
I carried on visiting Argentina
over the years. Yeah.
And in a moment of madness,
my sister-in-law was like,
"Why don't you take a sculpture?"
And I went like, "Yeah, let's!"
We thought,
"Just take it as hand luggage."
Because it was so heavy,
I had to check it in.
In transport,
as they threw the case around,
it clearly came off the base.
I mean, the two screws here
were inside the marble,
but cannot go very deep
because it can crack.
Yeah. So, I think, you know,
all the bits that came off it,
I think they're all from here.
I don't think it's damaged anywhere
else and as these came off,
it damaged the base.
So, you must have felt devastated
when you saw this.
I felt terrible. The first thing I
did was called a friend of my mum's.
She said, "Your mum wasn't
very good with bases,
"so it's not really your fault."
What a kind thing to say!
Yeah. Is it possible to show us
how this sits onto the base?
Like that. Wow!
So, that's a lot of weight on a very
small point, isn't it? Yeah. OK.
That IS a lot of weight.
So, what would you like Kirsten
to do to this?
You would like it to go back on...
Wow, straight...
Finger just points there! OK.
I want it on this.
How you attach it, I don't care.
OK. As long as it's on the base!
As long as it's secure on the base.
I just want it in my house. It would
be amazing to have this out
and, of course, be connected
to my mum and having her presence.
So, your mum would ask you what
you saw in the artwork and now,
when you look at it, broken,
what do you see?
I don't think I see much. I feel
quite heartbroken that it's broken.
Yeah. And I feel quite bad
that it happened. I haven't got many
things that belonged to my mum,
so I would love to have
this in a visible place.
It's a piece of Argentina
and a piece of your mum. Yes. Yeah.
It's going to be really lovely
working with this.
Leave it with me. Thank you.
You take care now. Bye. Bye-bye.
Thank you very much.
Kirsten, that looks interesting.
Look at that! It is, isn't it?
That's all been hand-carved...
Yeah. It's lovely, isn't it?
It's very beautiful
and it's incredibly heavy.
It's got these two holes,
so all of that weight was
attached by those two little pins.
That's literally what was holding
it on the stand. Absolutely.
If you've got any thoughts,
um, about how I could re-seat it.
This has got steel on the base,
so it's quite heavy.
Does it fix in here as well?
I think it goes like this.
Oh, it actually rocks forward.
Cor, that's wanting to fall off.
I'd... It needs another support,
otherwise,
this is going to happen again.
I wonder if there's any
way of having a bit of Perspex or
something that's going to help
support it on either side, that
isn't going to visually alter
the way that this looks as a whole.
I think the best thing is
if I can take the stand apart, get
those studs out, and try and see if
I can drill those a tiny bit deeper.
OK, that sounds... If that's OK?
..like a plan. Yeah, amazing.
Shall I take this for you?
Absolutely. OK. I'll take this bit.
Lovely. I'm sure we'll find
a solution. Yeah.
In the quest to get
the Indian swinging bench back
to its comfortable cradling best,
Will's recruited upholsterer
Sonnaz Nooranvary to work her
magic on the soft furnishings.
This old foam is actually
really firm
and I can't imagine it actually
being that comfortable to sit on,
so I am going to replace the foam,
I think.
Having a look at these upholsters,
I can undo this stitching,
stuff some more polyester wadding
inside to really plump them
back up again
and they'll be good as new.
I've got some lovely new foam, so
now, I just need to cut it to size.
Oh!
This is taking me ages to flat-pack.
I mean,
there are so many components here.
But the more I take off,
the more damage I can see.
Oh! I mean, look at that!
There's a nasty split
running from the top right down
the side of this leg here.
Now, when you think about it,
when the bench is swinging back
and forth,
it's putting subtle bits of movement
into the joints and the more that
you have movement, the more you have
a wiggle, the more that the joints
can actually start to break down.
The bench needs to be really strong
and secure,
so I'm going to make a new leg.
And that's what I'm going to
start off doing.
Well,
that's the new leg all turned up.
Now, I need to cut
the leg down to the right length
and add the two mortise holes
that go on the sides.
Then, I can get to sand
everything back.
I have finally finished
sanding back this bench.
There are some really big
areas of damage here.
On this side of the bench, a little
piece of wood has come away there.
That should glue back
together quite nicely,
but up here, there's a really big
patch of damage,
so I'm going to have to patch
that with a new piece of wood.
I really wanted to add a little bit
more zhush to the cushions,
so piping is just
one of the details,
to give it that little
something extra.
Now, I've left a bit of excess
wood round the outside,
which gives me a bit of wiggle room
with clamping together.
But once this is dry,
I can shave that down,
so it matches in perfectly
with the surrounding wood.
So, once that glue is dry,
it should create a nice strong bond.
Right, now that's all clamped up,
I'm going to leave it to dry.
And then, I can start putting
the bench back together.
CHUCKLES
Cobbler Dean has eradicated
the moth holes
and colour-matched the new heels
on the tough old boots.
So, now, we really need to get some
moisture into these uppers.
What I don't want to do is add
a coloured cream, because I think
that will diminish the story of what
these boots have been through.
And I don't want to take
any of that away.
So, the cream I'd like to use
is an oil-based cream.
It will really get
deep into the leather
and it will protect
against the elements.
Wow! Look at that.
That is just soaking that cream up
really, really nicely.
Even after doing it thousands
of times, I'm still really,
really satisfied
when I see that sort of result.
And I do get quite
excited at this stage.
It's almost impossible for me
to comprehend what these boots have
been through, when Jack wore them.
And it's such a privilege for me
to be able to touch them
and handle them and restore them.
Having carried a prisoner of war
hundreds of miles across
Europe during the dark days of war,
these boots were showing their age,
with deteriorating heels
and moth holes.
Dean. You all right?
Honestly, they look amazing!
Come up all right, haven't they?
You must be pleased. I'm pretty
pleased. Well done. Thank you.
Here we go! Always nerve-racking.
For Malcolm, the boots remind him
of his father's tenacity
and resilience.
Malcolm, hi. Hi, Dom.
Hi, Dean. Hello. Welcome back.
It's good to be here again. Aw!
I've been thinking about the boots
themselves and what's going
to happen to them and what they're
going to be like when I see them.
You know, the fact that they marched
through Poland when Dad was starving
and things of that nature.
They've had a life, haven't they?
Yeah, they had, yes.
It's quite exciting, the thought
that they'll be restored,
probably to their former glory.
Malcolm,
do you want to see your boots?
I think so, yeah! Waiting.
All the tension.
Go on, Dean.
Shall I do the honours here?
Oh, my word!
Absolutely perfect.
Yeah, I never imagined
they would get back like this again.
Oh, that's brilliant, that is!
Oh, my word!
Let's have a look at...
Yeah. I can just imagine Dad wearing
them when I was
a little boy, when it was
snowing and things like that.
And then, he'd go trudging on...
They represent character as well
as episodes in the history
of our family. Yeah. Yeah.
All of these emotions
and sort of sentiments are
wrapped up in a pair of boots.
Yeah. Yeah, they're encompassed
in that, yeah.
But we don't want to forget it.
No. Good. Rightly so.
And that's helped considerably.
Thank you so much for doing that,
Dean. You're welcome.
It's been a privilege.
Just to get them back...
Yeah. ..to the way they were before.
And they're a very good
pair of boots now.
They're certainly not going back
where there's a lot of moths,
I'll tell you that! Glad to hear
that. Moths, honestly, yeah!
They're yours to take away. Get them
back home where they belong.
Thank you very much indeed.
Thank you so much and nice
to meet you. Bye. Take care.
I can breathe now. Yeah, a special
pair of boots. Yeah, definitely.
They're so important to me,
the boots,
because they are a tangible reminder
of Dad, who died many years ago now.
But also, remembering what
he went through during the war
and by association, we can not
forget what's gone on before.
The bench that served four
generations of one family is
finally ready to be reassembled.
I do get quite a lot of enjoyment
when I get to this
part of the restoration, especially
when something comes into the Barn
so broken.
Right,
that's the first side glued up.
I'm hoping it's going to fit really
nicely on the end here.
Well, that is a nice snug fit.
I just need to dowel this in place
and I can move on to the other side.
These bolsters really are
the cherry on top.
I'm really pleased with how
they've turned out
and I'm loving the tassel. It really
has finished it beautifully.
I can move on to the next one
and then it's finished
and the cushions can go
over to Will.
As Sonnaz and Will pull
together on their fix,
Dom is helping Kirsten
by working out how to safely secure
the 25 kilo stone sculpture
onto its wooden base.
I love the idea that this sculpture
is teetering and almost suspended
and balanced in position
like it's going to topple over.
The artist has thought about how
the sculpture is going to sit
as much as actually doing
the carving and creating it.
So I don't want to change
this drastically visually,
but I want this
to be nice and secure.
First thing I'm going to do
is unscrew this steel base.
Then hopefully these
two pins will come out.
Then I can actually put
slightly longer studs in.
I'm putting an awful lot of force,
more inwards than twisting.
Although I've got the perfect
screwdriver for the job,
you do have to...
It's a bit of a workout.
That went. Is it going to snap?
I'm now ready to start bonding
these fragments onto the sculpture.
I've chosen a polyester resin
to do that.
It gives a really nice,
transparent adhesive.
This stone, it's got lots of
different colours going through it.
So that's going to be really helpful
to lose some of the restoration
in that detail.
So I've got this one
just to go in here
and then I can start
to fill the missing areas.
The stand for the sculpture
is coming on really well.
It's now back fixed
on to its metal base.
I've got all of the repairs done
and most importantly,
the two studs that hold it in place,
I've actually replaced with slightly
longer, slightly wider ones.
But the nature of this sculpture
means we've had to intervene
and we've had to give it
a little bit extra support
just to make sure that
it doesn't get damaged again.
The solution is going to be this.
That's going to screw
onto the side of the stand.
The sculpture will fit and contact
exactly where it did before.
Now I need to just bend
these two ears around
and they're going to just sort of
cradle the sculpture
and stop it from rocking
back and forwards.
I'm going to use a heat gun
to warm up the acrylic.
And then that will make it
a bit more bendy.
You can see it's starting
to get a little bit soft.
I want to get it just hot enough,
but not too hot
that it melts and distorts.
That is just the angle that I need.
As the acrylic cools down,
it should stay there.
Hopefully.
Yes!
There we go.
That is exactly the angle
that I need.
I'm chuffed with that.
That's perfect.
It's so incredible to think
of the journey that this
seed sculpture has been on
from Bettina making it
and it now coming to the UK.
It'll be really lovely for Maria
to be able to display this piece.
It's just a beautiful thing.
It's got a lovely surface
and you just want to touch it.
It's incredible, but it doesn't
have a huge amount of strength.
Dom is going to have
to be very careful
when he works around this area.
Yeah, he's going to have
to be quite careful.
Kirsten has done
such an amazing job.
You really can't tell
where the damage was.
Unfortunately, I now have to drill
back into what Kirsten's done.
I'm going to use this really small
rotary tool to get in the hole
and try and open it out
ever so slightly larger
to try and get a better fixing
to my new pins
and give us a nice, solid fixing.
It's taken a full dismantle
and rebuild
to get the Indian bench
back in the swing of things again.
Well, this has been a mammoth task.
Look at that. Sturdy as anything.
Now it's time for polishing.
And this is my favourite part
because I'm hoping
this is going to look exactly like
it did when Krishna first saw it.
You know, I want to take her back
to her childhood back in India.
Oh, look at that.
Look at that.
That looks absolutely gorgeous.
The 125-year-old bench arrived at
the barn on the point of collapse,
held together by incongruous
metal brackets.
For Krishna, this beloved piece
is a safe space
and conjures up memories
of family gathered upon it.
Hi, Krishna. Hi.
Follow us.
We are not going in the barn?
I bet you're wondering
where we're taking you.
Yeah. We're not going in the barn,
so where are you taking me?
Oh, my God.
It's actually hanging.
I'm hoping that it is restored
the way it used to be
back when I was little.
And comfortable and not shaking
every time we try and sit on it.
I can't wait.
I can't wait, I'm so excited.
And you've got it suspended,
that's the best bit.
Thank you.
So... Would you like to have a look?
Yes, please.
Are you ready? Yes. Yeah? OK.
Oh, my God.
That's amazing.
That just looks so good.
This is how I used to remember it.
Oh, wow.
Look at the upholstery.
My God, it's so good. Thank you.
I think you've waited probably
long enough, haven't you,
to have a sit in it?
I was just going to say,
can I... Would you like to?
Yes, please. Of course.
This is amazing.
This is so comfy.
This is how I wanted it to be. Good.
Well done, Sonnaz.
Thank you so much.
I can't thank both of you enough.
It's just so good.
I'm so happy.
And now it can go back
into its rightful place...
Oh, I can't wait. ..in your home.
Yes. And when it's time to relax,
you just lie down,
put your feet out.
Oh, my, God! That's so good!
Like it was made to fit you.
There you go.
That looks so comfortable as well.
Thank you so much.
It's an absolute pleasure.
And it's been the first swinging
bench I've ever seen...
And worked on.
..and worked on. Yeah, same.
I can't thank you guys enough.
Well, we'll get this packaged up
and we'll get it sent over to you.
Thank you so much once again, guys.
Thank you. Bye.
I have made so many memories
on that swing with the family.
It really feels as if, yes,
my family's around me.
Especially my father,
my grandmother.
Right from childhood until now,
all the memories
have come flooding back.
I'm so happy. I'm just so happy.
Art meets engineering,
as Kirsten and Dom prepare
for the nerve-racking moment
of reuniting the newly
bolstered base
and the heavy marble seed sculpture.
I've tried my best.
I think it's a good solution.
But what do you think?
This looks ingenious. Fantastic.
Nice bit of Perspex.
I love the...
Cradled arms holding it. Yeah.
Hopefully it will just drop in
and be nice and secure.
OK. Shall we have a go?
Yeah. Shall we do it, then?
I'll come round. We have to be so
careful. I know, tell me about it.
Yeah, because obviously
this is where the damage was.
I will be as careful as I can be.
Yeah, I'll try. I know.
I think you'll have to help me with
the weight of it as well, actually.
OK. Come down gently.
Oh, you know what,
that's gone straight in.
Oh, my goodness. Look.
Literally, it fell in. No way.
I'm... Dom, you're a genius.
I am so chuffed with that.
Look at that. That's perfect.
Fantastic.
Thank you. Oh, good. Look at that!
For Maria, this precious artwork
serves as a tribute
to the life and work
of her beloved mother.
But it was badly damaged during
a bumpy flight from Argentina.
Hey, Maria. Hi. Hi.
Hi. Come in. Hi, there.
Eyes straight to the table.
Yeah. Are you excited? I am.
This represents a very happy
period in my mum's life, you know,
where she was being creative
and was really happy doing it.
Your mum sounded amazing.
She was. It would have been her 75th
birthday a couple of weeks ago.
So, you know, she...
She lives in me, in my thoughts,
and I talk to her. She's present.
But I think just to have something
tangible that I can touch
and I can see, what can I say,
will be really amazing.
Well, I hope you won't be
disappointed with what we've done.
I'm sure I won't be. Do you want
to have a look? Yes, please.
Yes. Go on, Kirsten.
Amazing.
Thank you.
Oh, my God. Thank you so much.
She would be so happy.
I mean, so happy to know
that it made it home.
And I think also by breaking it,
I put a bit of me in the history.
A bit of yourself. Yes, and you.
I just love that
you can't stop touching it.
I mean, it makes it...
Yeah, it's just beautiful.
Really beautiful to see.
She made this with her hands, right?
Yeah. Her hands were here.
Definitely a surface
that she touched a lot.
So I'm going to put it somewhere
where I can reach out
and touch it from time to time.
I just can't stop!
I'll be very careful with it
from now on, I promise.
We will get it packaged up
nice and safe for you
and get it sent back home.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome. Thank you.
It's been a pleasure.
See you later. Bye.
Well done. Well done.
I feel so happy about having it back
because I missed it,
because I know my mum made it,
because she's in there.
I think of all the work
and the love she put into it,
how important it was for her
to create this piece.
Already, I feel like
she's here with us.
And, you know, to have her with me,
with my son at home,
will be really amazing.
If you have a treasured possession
that's seen better days
and you think the team can help,
please get in touch at...
..and join us in The Repair Shop.
Oh, my goodness! ..where precious
but faded keepsakes...
That is proper crushed!
..are restored to their former
glory. Zha-zhing! Zha-zhing!
Can I get finished now, please?
Yes! A dream team of expert
craftspeople...
I'm absolutely chuffed to bits!
Fantastic! Brilliant!
Yes! Look at that!
..using traditional techniques
passed down the generations...
Perfecto! It's almost magic. Nothing
better than a plan that works!
..restore irreplaceable treasures...
Oh, my God! Look at that!
It's perfect!
..and unlock the stories they hold.
BELL PINGS
Happy tears! It feels more magical!
I just want to hug everybody!
INAUDIBLE CHATTER
AND LAUGHTER
First into the Barn today,
a scientific marvel that played
a role in one of the 20th century's
most important discoveries.
It belongs to eight-year-old Felix,
who's accompanied by his dad, Sam.
Ooh! Hello! Hello. How are you
doing? Good, thanks. How are you?
I'm very good. I can't complain.
Hello. All right?
Dad? Dad, yeah.
OK. So... Dad, son. Dad, son.
Box, what's in it?
In the box is a microscope.
Richard, do you mind joining us?
Sure. I've got something
you might like here.
Ooh, yeah. With his eyes on the
prize, optics expert Richard Biggs.
Whoa! There we go. Aha!
Gosh, that's a real microscope!
You said a microscope,
you didn't say a work of art!
That is unbelievable!
Who's going to tell us about this?
It was made in 1890.
So, this was my great-grandfather's.
Yeah.
His name was John Desmond Bernal.
OK.
He unfortunately died long before
I was born. He was a scientist
crystallographer in the early
20th century.
And what is that? What does that
do? A crystallographer is a person
who studies the way cells form. Wow!
Yeah, his work was a precursor
to lots of interesting,
amazing discoveries.
His students went on to discover
the structure of the double helix
structure of DNA. Cor blimey!
So, he was very important
to amazing DNA-based medicines
and things we're having now.
Wow! Are you inspired by science?
Yes.
I'm third best in science in my
class... That's a good start, yeah.
And I just want to do
cool things with it.
Maybe go on to a Nobel Prize,
or at least be better than
Albert Einstein.
Really? Why not?
No, go on... Aim high.
Yeah, that's the way to do it.
Everyone starts somewhere. Yeah.
Here's your starting point.
Mine is here. Yeah.
So, what's actually wrong with it?
So, there's bits of rust
scattered around. OK.
Um, the mirror's damaged there,
around the edges. Yeah.
And we also might need this.
That's a bit rusty.
So, you can't see through...
Not properly. I don't think
the lenses are working properly
because we can't, like, directly
see the cells.
Right.
So, all we really see is just blobs.
So, the microscope needs work,
obviously,
because you can't see stuff
through it, but the box...
It's got a bit wear and tear to it.
Right. And it just needs
a little bit of love.
So, if we get this fixed, what's the
first thing you're going to look at?
It's either going to be
cucumber skin, carrot,
or, um, some dog muscle. Dog muscle?
Just to clarify,
we have that on a slide.
We're not going to take
that off a real dog.
OK, I was just about to say.
Yeah. OK.
Everything under there
will appear magic, wow!
It's so different,
looking at micro...
Absolutely. There's a whole world.
Yes, absolutely. Whole different
microscopic world. Mm-hm. Yeah.
Well, listen, both of you, thank you
for bringing this in. No, thank you.
Thank you. Yeah. It's going to be
a real joy. Good to meet you.
We look forward to seeing it
when it's done. You take care now.
Thank you. RICHARD: Good to see you,
bye-bye. Bye.
This is where the fun starts. This
is a rather impressive instrument.
There's this super iris
mechanism here,
it's like a camera lens iris, which
controls the light that's going up.
So, when the light hits that mirror,
it sends it up through the slide,
so you can see it.
So, the flat side is absolutely
awful, so what I'm going to do
is take it off and that can be
sent off to be re-silvered.
The whole frame needs to be just
polished up a little nicer.
Job number one, see if I can get
an image. Let's put a lens in.
Let me get a slide that's got
something in it.
Oh, golly! I'm not seeing
anything at the moment.
So I'm going to have to figure
out what is happening.
Hmm!
Right.
Next, to test the talents of cobbler
Dean Westmoreland is Malcolm,
with a wartime souvenir
that tells an incredible tale of
bravery and resilience.
How are we doing? Fine, thanks.
Hello. Hello.
Now, those look like well used
boots. Whose are they?
They were my dad's boots when he was
a prisoner of war in World War II
and he marched in these through
miles of Germany
and probably Poland as well. Whoa!
What's his name? Jack. Jack. Yeah.
So, when did Jack join the Army?
When war was imminent, he and his
two brothers joined up straightaway.
They soon went across to Norway.
I think it was the beginning
of 1940.
And there, he was captured.
Never saw the fighting.
He just saw imprisonment
for the duration of the war.
He was a prisoner of war
for the whole of the war?
Yeah, for five years, yeah.
He kept quiet about it,
really. Yeah.
But after he died,
we found the diary that he'd kept
throughout the war. Seriously?
Yeah, and it's from the beginning
of 1942 to the time the Americans
took him home.
But the circumstances in which he
was imprisoned were horrific. Yeah.
You know, he speaks of a long period
of starvation, almost, in 1942.
Yeah. I think little things
like that can make you realise
how awful it must have been. Mm.
It's hard for us to comprehend,
isn't it? Mm.
What they would have gone through.
Yeah.
Does your dad mention
the boots in the diary? Not as such,
but he would be wearing them,
especially in the snowy
conditions in winter.
There's a very good description
somewhere in here.
"The Germans put us,
7,000 men, to march by night
"towards south Germany.
Marching by night, sleeping by day,
"outside, or in barns.
"Through exposure, hands, lips,
face, badly chapped.
"I had dysentery most of the way,
same as 90% of the others."
Mm.
So, these boots have
a lot of history. Yes.
So, what would you like Dean to
do to the actual boots?
I can see the back is coming apart.
Yeah.
I don't know what can be done,
if anything,
about the moths that have had
a good go at them. Yeah.
But, you know, if the stitching
was done, a bit of the sole
and heeling and... Yeah. But you
don't want them looking brand-new.
Not brand-new, no,
but just tidying up a bit.
They would remind us of him,
wearing these boots.
His indefatigable courage,
not ever wanting to give up.
In fact, when he got home,
I do remember him
trudging through the snow in them
when I was a little boy. Really?
Yeah. He carried on wearing them.
Yeah, he carried on wearing them.
If ever it snowed, he wore them.
When he was trudging to his office,
in deep snow,
he would have us following him.
My younger brother would have
been five. Yeah.
He got about 200 yards
and it came above his knees and so,
Dad let him go home. Yeah. I was
seven, probably got half a mile.
Yeah. And then he sent me home,
but...
But he... He...
He just carried on.
Yeah.
Just to work.
Not as a starving prisoner. Yeah.
Mm.
There's not only
memories of the war,
but memories of my childhood
as well.
And honouring... Mm.
..you know,
what he'd gone through. Yeah.
Malcolm, thank you for bringing
these in. Thank you as well.
I'll do my best for them. You take
care now. Thanks a lot. Bye-bye.
All right, then. Take care. Bye-bye.
Wow!
Them boots were definitely
made for surviving, weren't they?
Yeah, they need some work on them.
Should come up nicely. Nice one.
Good luck with it. Cheers, mate.
These boots are really
blowing my mind, really.
I can't believe how old they are
and what they've been through.
The things that Jack must have
endured while wearing these,
it's really quite hard
to comprehend.
The major damage is quite
obvious here,
where it needs re-stitching
and glueing.
There's some moth-eaten
holes in the felt here.
This heel block is really quite
deteriorated.
I think I need to build him a new
heel block, so that they sit right.
And they stand right
and they look proud, as they should.
Before I can do anything,
though, I really need to give all
the leather a clean,
make it a bit more supple.
There's over 70 years of muck
and grime in there.
Even that little small section there
has pulled off so much black!
This is going to be quite
an extensive clean job, I think.
But it will be worth it.
Even instantly, that is
softer and I can
feel it would be nicer to work with.
Having carried out a forensic
examination of the acclaimed
scientist's microscope, Richard has
made his own critical discovery.
Young Felix was saying
he could only see blobs.
I also can only get blobs.
Having looked at the eyepiece,
it's nice and clean,
but the bottom lens is missing.
If I look at one of my own
eyepieces,
you've got a lens at the top
and you've got a lens at the bottom.
You've got to have
the system at the top,
which then works through
the lens at the bottom, which is...
The combination makes
the magnification,
so I'm hoping to source a new
eyepiece, so the next stage
is actually to start de-rusting
one or two tiny parts.
This is a graphic art eraser,
tiny little fibres in a bundle.
I've had one of these
in my tool box for years.
It's just like a little
scrubbing brush,
but it's very effective
for getting rust off.
I'll just work my way round this,
tidying it up.
The whole frame needs to be
just polished,
to make it look a bit prettier.
I've spent quite
a bit of time on the microscope,
getting that all smart.
The box is quite good for its age,
considering it's 132 years.
The big thing is there's a crack
all the way up there.
The first job is to get some
wood glue in that crack.
The whole point of having
a good box to store
the microscope in is to keep it
away from the dust and the fungus
and temperature change and the thing
about any optics is that
there's fungus spores in the air
get sucked in and out with
the diurnal variation...
That's a nice phrase.
..which means the temperature change
causes the optics to
act like a mini bellows
and they're sucking it in
and pushing it out and the fungus
spores get in as well.
I'll let it dry.
And then get on with the buffing
and cleaning.
Now, to actually see
if the crack has set.
Oh, yeah. That's worked.
Um, so, now I can
get on to the outside of the case.
This is a magic potion
that I've borrowed from Will.
It's got raw linseed oil,
white spirit and something else,
but it works.
Of course, being Will's, it would
work, wouldn't it? Would work...
Yeah, course it would.
As Richard does his best
to emulate Will's skills,
the real deal is taking delivery of
the latest assignment.
Krishna from Hertfordshire
has arrived to tell him
all about this intriguing
piece of heritage furniture.
Hi. Hi, there.
Hi, I'm Krishna.
This must be your bench.
Yes, it is. It's a swing.
Really? Yes.
If you see the sides, it has got
four hooks and you put the chains
around the hooks and then you attach
that to the beams of the ceiling
and that's how you hang it indoors.
I've never seen an indoor
swinging bench.
Where's it from? It's from Gujarat.
That is west part of India.
And it's been in my family
for a very long time.
How long is a long time?
My uncle has accounted it for 125
years. That's a long time!
That is a long time!
It belonged to my great-grandfather,
who gave it to my grandfather,
who gave it to my father, and I'm
the lucky one who inherited it.
So, there's a lot of history there.
Yes.
So, I have got lovely memories.
My dad used to put me to sleep
when I was little, like,
I would lie down, he would sit next
to me, sing and I would fall asleep.
Really? And my grandmother and me
used to always fight about
who was going to sit on it,
because when I went to school,
she would be on it.
When I came home, I'd be like,
"You've been sitting on it all day.
"It's time for me now!"
So, there was always
a bit of a fight for the bench.
Yes. I hang on to those memories,
they're very dear to me.
Very often, they do come
flooding in about my grandparents,
especially my dad, cos
I lost my dad at a very early age.
So, I'm not possessive about
material things, but this one, I am.
It's just part of me.
A couple of years ago, when I had
health problems, um, and
I used to come back after my chemo,
I used to just come and lie down on
the bench and it just made me
feel good. You get very tired with
chemo. Every morning, I would just
have my coffee
and then I would be lying on it with
my little blanket on and that's it.
I used to feel very comforted
because I just felt I was in...
My family was around me.
So, this means a lot.
What exactly would you like me
to do with this bench?
If you sit on it right now,
the whole thing shakes a bit.
I'm not going to fall through
the bench? No, no, you won't.
You won't, it's just the whole
thing is a bit shaky
and you can tell
when you sit on it...
You see? Oh! There you go.
I feel like I'm swinging!
But not the right... Right way of
swinging, yeah. ..type of swinging.
This back sounds slightly creaky.
Yeah. Mm-hm.
What are these bits here for?
A friend of mine, he came
to my rescue and said, "I'm not
"a carpenter, but I will try to put
this as much as I can together."
The bracket's probably helped
it from further damage
and it's kind of kept it all intact.
Yes, it has.
But I think I'm going to have a
challenge on my hands. I might need
some help with the upholstery,
but, yeah, it would be nice
to get it up swinging again.
Thank you so much.
I'll see you soon. Bye-bye.
Take care. Bye-bye.
I'm surprised no-one has actually
fallen through this bench yet,
because it's really quite rickety.
Look at that.
This foam is quite hard.
So I might have a word
with Sonnaz and see
if she can do something with it.
Pop that under there.
At the moment,
this bench looks really dull.
I think it's made of teak.
It would be really nice
if I can take this back to the
original wood and repolish it.
I think it would look just the part.
The entire bench is going to need
a lot of strengthening.
This leg, in particular,
is pretty bad,
but I'm going to start off by
removing these newly added brackets.
Oh, my gosh! So, these metal
brackets were really actually
keeping the whole of the back
in place.
I think I'm going to have to
completely dismantle this
and I might have to remake
some of these joints as well.
It's going to be a really big job.
Also restoring structural strength,
Dean,
as he overhauls
the prisoner of war boots.
So, it's really quite satisfying
to get the old heel block off.
And I've got rid of all that
old leather.
There's no way I could have
reconditioned this.
It's almost like cardboard, really.
I'll rebuild the heels in the same
way that they were built originally.
A lot of modern
ones are plastic units,
they've got on the bottom of shoes.
But you will always see those
lines in the heel and that's
kind of a throwback to this
traditional layered heel building.
So, first layer on. I'm just going
to roughly trim that edge.
And it's really just
a case of repeating this process.
Glue and layer, glue and layer,
and then trim.
So, I'll need the heel to sit flat,
once all the layers are on.
What I'm looking for is
a slight gap at the front,
where you can maybe get
a finger or two under.
If I have too low a heel, that will
feel like you're leaning backwards
when you wear them.
If you have too high a heel, it
feels like you're leaning forwards.
So, it's really important to get
that balance right.
And looking at this,
that needs at least one more layer
under there to make it right.
So, I'm going to continue
this process on both boots,
sand them smooth.
This back bit, this counter, some of
the stitches were pretty much dust,
so I'm going to sew this back up
and get some strength
and structure back in there.
I don't want to get any stitch
wrong on this, not a single one,
so I'm just taking it nice and slow,
doing one stitch at a time.
Ensuring that I hit every
original stitch hole.
Trying to be as sensitive
as possible to the boot, really.
And I can move on to this
upper part.
And try and tackle this felt
and where all the holes are.
Oh-ho-ho-ho!
Now, this is really,
really old felt.
It's really thick
and very compressed.
The holes are moth-eaten
and it's where the moths have taken
flight and left these holes.
It's really outside my comfort zone.
I don't really work with felt.
But I'm always up for the challenge.
So I came up with
the idea of plugging the holes.
I'll feed a little bit of glue
into each hole.
And before it dries,
I'll get some felting wool
and then feed the felting wool in.
Now, once it's in there with
the glue, it blends quite well
and as that dries,
I can then trim it off.
There's quite a lot of work
to do here.
There's a lot of holes to fill
on both sides of the boots.
So, I really need to
persevere with this.
The microscope that revealed
a century of scientific secrets
is almost ready to start its next
phase of discovery.
Everything's coming along
quite nicely.
Everything is smooth
and greased and slides.
That's good.
This is the original eyepiece and
this is a new one. It just drops in.
Time to put a slide in
and actually see that it works.
I've got a selection of slides
all prepared.
Right. The mirror...
The mirror is done.
Nice new shiny mirror on there.
Oh, there it... Oh, wow!
That's great!
That's better than I thought. Better
than I thought it would come up.
Oh, this is magic.
There's one here that says
Gypsophila paniculata...
Pina colada?!
Petal. That's not pina colada!
I like repairing things like this
and then looking through
a microscope is magic.
What you see is you get that wow!
And I'm sure Felix is going to be
just as bowled over.
He's just going to have so much fun.
This microscope once supported the
work of one of the 20th century's
most influential scientists,
Felix's great-grandfather.
Today, Felix and Sam have returned,
hopeful that the microscope
can become a launchpad for Felix's
own journey of discovery.
Here he is. Hi, Dom. Hi, Richard.
Hi. How are we going, Felix?
Good, thanks. How are you?
Good to see you. Hi, guys.
Felix, are you excited? Yes, very.
The excitement is going
round the family.
It's a subject of conversation
at the moment. Definitely. Yeah.
And my school. Oh,
and school as well? Yeah, everyone.
Everyone knows about it.
Very exciting. That's great.
There's a huge amount of family
history with this microscope,
isn't there? Absolutely.
It's incredible, isn't it?
And then Felix is the next
chapter of this story, hopefully.
Do you want to see it?
Yes, please. Go on, Richard.
He's managed not to peek! Well done!
Right, are you ready for this? Yeah.
Wow! Oh!
That looks amazing!
Honestly, just amazing!
Yeah, that's...so good!
Thank you! You're welcome.
He did de-rust it, look. Yeah.
What was it you wanted
to look at first?
What's it going to be? A slice
of carrot or cucumber. Right.
What is it? Wow! What can you see?
What can you see?
A holey cheese crossed
with a postage stamp!
Yeah! That's amazing! Thank you!
I'll never look at a piece
of cucumber in the same way again!
The amazing things you see under
a microscope. Yeah!
Felix, this is the first time you've
been able to look through
this properly...
Yes. ..since you've had it. Yes.
Just like your great-grandfather
did, all those years ago. Yeah.
So... How does that feel?
Amazing, exciting and...
Yeah, it's just amazing.
To take this in to show your school
friends, you're going
to need to put it in something,
aren't you? Yeah, the box!
Oh, it's cleaned and polished.
There you go. Thank you.
Ready to take to school. Yeah.
Felix, are you all set? Yeah. Locked
in, ready to go? Yeah. Brilliant.
Well, that is yours to take away
and enjoy. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Richard.
Very best of luck in the future.
Cheers. Take care. Bye.
Thank you, bye.
The sweetest kid. Mm.
Love that.
Knowing how much history this
microscope has, I feel happy,
inspired, honoured to just have this
and being able to play with it
whenever I want, really.
He can go in a hundred
different directions.
I can't wait to see where you go
with it. Well... Let's go.
What do you think this is, then?
What's it made of?
It looks like marble. Is it?
Marble sculpture?
It's certainly very heavy.
It's very heavy!
The mystery object belongs to Maria
and she's hoping the sculptural
skills of Kirsten Ramsay can
restore its beautiful curves.
Hello. How are you doing?
I'm all right, thank you.
I was just asking Kirsten
if she could tell me what this is.
It's a... It's a sculpture
that my mum made. Oh, wow!
She was an artist...
Yeah. ..in Buenos Aires.
I'm from Buenos Aires, Argentina.
OK. And what is it?
What is it a sculpture of?
It's part of a triptych,
so there are three pieces and a
wooden base, like this one. Yeah.
They are different
stages of something... Right.
..that's growing.
I mean, this is like a seed,
or the beginning... OK.
..then beginning to germinate,
like something is coming out... OK.
..and then, there is the third one,
that is like kind of winged...thing.
Wow! You know, you would say to her,
"What is this?"
She will go, like, "What do you
think it is? What do you see?"
And she will go,
"Ah, that's what you see."
She sounds great!
So, what's mum's name?
Betina. Betina.
So, how did your mum make this?
She carved it. It took her, three
pieces, around two years. Whoa!
Two years? Yeah.
She was very proud of this piece.
Really proud.
And the triptych is the last
piece that she finished.
OK. Yeah,
she was preparing a solo exhibition.
Um, she was beginning to be
recognised. Mm.
But then, she passed away in 2003,
January. OK.
We were very close.
We were really good friends.
We travelled together and she was
quite young when I was born.
She was 24, so, you know, as adults,
in a way, we felt very close and she
would come to Europe and we would go
to museums to look at sculptures
and talk about that, so, you know,
we had a great time together.
OK. Yeah, my mum was a little bit
crazy. And, yeah, it was fun.
It was good.
So, how did this get broken?
I carried on visiting Argentina
over the years. Yeah.
And in a moment of madness,
my sister-in-law was like,
"Why don't you take a sculpture?"
And I went like, "Yeah, let's!"
We thought,
"Just take it as hand luggage."
Because it was so heavy,
I had to check it in.
In transport,
as they threw the case around,
it clearly came off the base.
I mean, the two screws here
were inside the marble,
but cannot go very deep
because it can crack.
Yeah. So, I think, you know,
all the bits that came off it,
I think they're all from here.
I don't think it's damaged anywhere
else and as these came off,
it damaged the base.
So, you must have felt devastated
when you saw this.
I felt terrible. The first thing I
did was called a friend of my mum's.
She said, "Your mum wasn't
very good with bases,
"so it's not really your fault."
What a kind thing to say!
Yeah. Is it possible to show us
how this sits onto the base?
Like that. Wow!
So, that's a lot of weight on a very
small point, isn't it? Yeah. OK.
That IS a lot of weight.
So, what would you like Kirsten
to do to this?
You would like it to go back on...
Wow, straight...
Finger just points there! OK.
I want it on this.
How you attach it, I don't care.
OK. As long as it's on the base!
As long as it's secure on the base.
I just want it in my house. It would
be amazing to have this out
and, of course, be connected
to my mum and having her presence.
So, your mum would ask you what
you saw in the artwork and now,
when you look at it, broken,
what do you see?
I don't think I see much. I feel
quite heartbroken that it's broken.
Yeah. And I feel quite bad
that it happened. I haven't got many
things that belonged to my mum,
so I would love to have
this in a visible place.
It's a piece of Argentina
and a piece of your mum. Yes. Yeah.
It's going to be really lovely
working with this.
Leave it with me. Thank you.
You take care now. Bye. Bye-bye.
Thank you very much.
Kirsten, that looks interesting.
Look at that! It is, isn't it?
That's all been hand-carved...
Yeah. It's lovely, isn't it?
It's very beautiful
and it's incredibly heavy.
It's got these two holes,
so all of that weight was
attached by those two little pins.
That's literally what was holding
it on the stand. Absolutely.
If you've got any thoughts,
um, about how I could re-seat it.
This has got steel on the base,
so it's quite heavy.
Does it fix in here as well?
I think it goes like this.
Oh, it actually rocks forward.
Cor, that's wanting to fall off.
I'd... It needs another support,
otherwise,
this is going to happen again.
I wonder if there's any
way of having a bit of Perspex or
something that's going to help
support it on either side, that
isn't going to visually alter
the way that this looks as a whole.
I think the best thing is
if I can take the stand apart, get
those studs out, and try and see if
I can drill those a tiny bit deeper.
OK, that sounds... If that's OK?
..like a plan. Yeah, amazing.
Shall I take this for you?
Absolutely. OK. I'll take this bit.
Lovely. I'm sure we'll find
a solution. Yeah.
In the quest to get
the Indian swinging bench back
to its comfortable cradling best,
Will's recruited upholsterer
Sonnaz Nooranvary to work her
magic on the soft furnishings.
This old foam is actually
really firm
and I can't imagine it actually
being that comfortable to sit on,
so I am going to replace the foam,
I think.
Having a look at these upholsters,
I can undo this stitching,
stuff some more polyester wadding
inside to really plump them
back up again
and they'll be good as new.
I've got some lovely new foam, so
now, I just need to cut it to size.
Oh!
This is taking me ages to flat-pack.
I mean,
there are so many components here.
But the more I take off,
the more damage I can see.
Oh! I mean, look at that!
There's a nasty split
running from the top right down
the side of this leg here.
Now, when you think about it,
when the bench is swinging back
and forth,
it's putting subtle bits of movement
into the joints and the more that
you have movement, the more you have
a wiggle, the more that the joints
can actually start to break down.
The bench needs to be really strong
and secure,
so I'm going to make a new leg.
And that's what I'm going to
start off doing.
Well,
that's the new leg all turned up.
Now, I need to cut
the leg down to the right length
and add the two mortise holes
that go on the sides.
Then, I can get to sand
everything back.
I have finally finished
sanding back this bench.
There are some really big
areas of damage here.
On this side of the bench, a little
piece of wood has come away there.
That should glue back
together quite nicely,
but up here, there's a really big
patch of damage,
so I'm going to have to patch
that with a new piece of wood.
I really wanted to add a little bit
more zhush to the cushions,
so piping is just
one of the details,
to give it that little
something extra.
Now, I've left a bit of excess
wood round the outside,
which gives me a bit of wiggle room
with clamping together.
But once this is dry,
I can shave that down,
so it matches in perfectly
with the surrounding wood.
So, once that glue is dry,
it should create a nice strong bond.
Right, now that's all clamped up,
I'm going to leave it to dry.
And then, I can start putting
the bench back together.
CHUCKLES
Cobbler Dean has eradicated
the moth holes
and colour-matched the new heels
on the tough old boots.
So, now, we really need to get some
moisture into these uppers.
What I don't want to do is add
a coloured cream, because I think
that will diminish the story of what
these boots have been through.
And I don't want to take
any of that away.
So, the cream I'd like to use
is an oil-based cream.
It will really get
deep into the leather
and it will protect
against the elements.
Wow! Look at that.
That is just soaking that cream up
really, really nicely.
Even after doing it thousands
of times, I'm still really,
really satisfied
when I see that sort of result.
And I do get quite
excited at this stage.
It's almost impossible for me
to comprehend what these boots have
been through, when Jack wore them.
And it's such a privilege for me
to be able to touch them
and handle them and restore them.
Having carried a prisoner of war
hundreds of miles across
Europe during the dark days of war,
these boots were showing their age,
with deteriorating heels
and moth holes.
Dean. You all right?
Honestly, they look amazing!
Come up all right, haven't they?
You must be pleased. I'm pretty
pleased. Well done. Thank you.
Here we go! Always nerve-racking.
For Malcolm, the boots remind him
of his father's tenacity
and resilience.
Malcolm, hi. Hi, Dom.
Hi, Dean. Hello. Welcome back.
It's good to be here again. Aw!
I've been thinking about the boots
themselves and what's going
to happen to them and what they're
going to be like when I see them.
You know, the fact that they marched
through Poland when Dad was starving
and things of that nature.
They've had a life, haven't they?
Yeah, they had, yes.
It's quite exciting, the thought
that they'll be restored,
probably to their former glory.
Malcolm,
do you want to see your boots?
I think so, yeah! Waiting.
All the tension.
Go on, Dean.
Shall I do the honours here?
Oh, my word!
Absolutely perfect.
Yeah, I never imagined
they would get back like this again.
Oh, that's brilliant, that is!
Oh, my word!
Let's have a look at...
Yeah. I can just imagine Dad wearing
them when I was
a little boy, when it was
snowing and things like that.
And then, he'd go trudging on...
They represent character as well
as episodes in the history
of our family. Yeah. Yeah.
All of these emotions
and sort of sentiments are
wrapped up in a pair of boots.
Yeah. Yeah, they're encompassed
in that, yeah.
But we don't want to forget it.
No. Good. Rightly so.
And that's helped considerably.
Thank you so much for doing that,
Dean. You're welcome.
It's been a privilege.
Just to get them back...
Yeah. ..to the way they were before.
And they're a very good
pair of boots now.
They're certainly not going back
where there's a lot of moths,
I'll tell you that! Glad to hear
that. Moths, honestly, yeah!
They're yours to take away. Get them
back home where they belong.
Thank you very much indeed.
Thank you so much and nice
to meet you. Bye. Take care.
I can breathe now. Yeah, a special
pair of boots. Yeah, definitely.
They're so important to me,
the boots,
because they are a tangible reminder
of Dad, who died many years ago now.
But also, remembering what
he went through during the war
and by association, we can not
forget what's gone on before.
The bench that served four
generations of one family is
finally ready to be reassembled.
I do get quite a lot of enjoyment
when I get to this
part of the restoration, especially
when something comes into the Barn
so broken.
Right,
that's the first side glued up.
I'm hoping it's going to fit really
nicely on the end here.
Well, that is a nice snug fit.
I just need to dowel this in place
and I can move on to the other side.
These bolsters really are
the cherry on top.
I'm really pleased with how
they've turned out
and I'm loving the tassel. It really
has finished it beautifully.
I can move on to the next one
and then it's finished
and the cushions can go
over to Will.
As Sonnaz and Will pull
together on their fix,
Dom is helping Kirsten
by working out how to safely secure
the 25 kilo stone sculpture
onto its wooden base.
I love the idea that this sculpture
is teetering and almost suspended
and balanced in position
like it's going to topple over.
The artist has thought about how
the sculpture is going to sit
as much as actually doing
the carving and creating it.
So I don't want to change
this drastically visually,
but I want this
to be nice and secure.
First thing I'm going to do
is unscrew this steel base.
Then hopefully these
two pins will come out.
Then I can actually put
slightly longer studs in.
I'm putting an awful lot of force,
more inwards than twisting.
Although I've got the perfect
screwdriver for the job,
you do have to...
It's a bit of a workout.
That went. Is it going to snap?
I'm now ready to start bonding
these fragments onto the sculpture.
I've chosen a polyester resin
to do that.
It gives a really nice,
transparent adhesive.
This stone, it's got lots of
different colours going through it.
So that's going to be really helpful
to lose some of the restoration
in that detail.
So I've got this one
just to go in here
and then I can start
to fill the missing areas.
The stand for the sculpture
is coming on really well.
It's now back fixed
on to its metal base.
I've got all of the repairs done
and most importantly,
the two studs that hold it in place,
I've actually replaced with slightly
longer, slightly wider ones.
But the nature of this sculpture
means we've had to intervene
and we've had to give it
a little bit extra support
just to make sure that
it doesn't get damaged again.
The solution is going to be this.
That's going to screw
onto the side of the stand.
The sculpture will fit and contact
exactly where it did before.
Now I need to just bend
these two ears around
and they're going to just sort of
cradle the sculpture
and stop it from rocking
back and forwards.
I'm going to use a heat gun
to warm up the acrylic.
And then that will make it
a bit more bendy.
You can see it's starting
to get a little bit soft.
I want to get it just hot enough,
but not too hot
that it melts and distorts.
That is just the angle that I need.
As the acrylic cools down,
it should stay there.
Hopefully.
Yes!
There we go.
That is exactly the angle
that I need.
I'm chuffed with that.
That's perfect.
It's so incredible to think
of the journey that this
seed sculpture has been on
from Bettina making it
and it now coming to the UK.
It'll be really lovely for Maria
to be able to display this piece.
It's just a beautiful thing.
It's got a lovely surface
and you just want to touch it.
It's incredible, but it doesn't
have a huge amount of strength.
Dom is going to have
to be very careful
when he works around this area.
Yeah, he's going to have
to be quite careful.
Kirsten has done
such an amazing job.
You really can't tell
where the damage was.
Unfortunately, I now have to drill
back into what Kirsten's done.
I'm going to use this really small
rotary tool to get in the hole
and try and open it out
ever so slightly larger
to try and get a better fixing
to my new pins
and give us a nice, solid fixing.
It's taken a full dismantle
and rebuild
to get the Indian bench
back in the swing of things again.
Well, this has been a mammoth task.
Look at that. Sturdy as anything.
Now it's time for polishing.
And this is my favourite part
because I'm hoping
this is going to look exactly like
it did when Krishna first saw it.
You know, I want to take her back
to her childhood back in India.
Oh, look at that.
Look at that.
That looks absolutely gorgeous.
The 125-year-old bench arrived at
the barn on the point of collapse,
held together by incongruous
metal brackets.
For Krishna, this beloved piece
is a safe space
and conjures up memories
of family gathered upon it.
Hi, Krishna. Hi.
Follow us.
We are not going in the barn?
I bet you're wondering
where we're taking you.
Yeah. We're not going in the barn,
so where are you taking me?
Oh, my God.
It's actually hanging.
I'm hoping that it is restored
the way it used to be
back when I was little.
And comfortable and not shaking
every time we try and sit on it.
I can't wait.
I can't wait, I'm so excited.
And you've got it suspended,
that's the best bit.
Thank you.
So... Would you like to have a look?
Yes, please.
Are you ready? Yes. Yeah? OK.
Oh, my God.
That's amazing.
That just looks so good.
This is how I used to remember it.
Oh, wow.
Look at the upholstery.
My God, it's so good. Thank you.
I think you've waited probably
long enough, haven't you,
to have a sit in it?
I was just going to say,
can I... Would you like to?
Yes, please. Of course.
This is amazing.
This is so comfy.
This is how I wanted it to be. Good.
Well done, Sonnaz.
Thank you so much.
I can't thank both of you enough.
It's just so good.
I'm so happy.
And now it can go back
into its rightful place...
Oh, I can't wait. ..in your home.
Yes. And when it's time to relax,
you just lie down,
put your feet out.
Oh, my, God! That's so good!
Like it was made to fit you.
There you go.
That looks so comfortable as well.
Thank you so much.
It's an absolute pleasure.
And it's been the first swinging
bench I've ever seen...
And worked on.
..and worked on. Yeah, same.
I can't thank you guys enough.
Well, we'll get this packaged up
and we'll get it sent over to you.
Thank you so much once again, guys.
Thank you. Bye.
I have made so many memories
on that swing with the family.
It really feels as if, yes,
my family's around me.
Especially my father,
my grandmother.
Right from childhood until now,
all the memories
have come flooding back.
I'm so happy. I'm just so happy.
Art meets engineering,
as Kirsten and Dom prepare
for the nerve-racking moment
of reuniting the newly
bolstered base
and the heavy marble seed sculpture.
I've tried my best.
I think it's a good solution.
But what do you think?
This looks ingenious. Fantastic.
Nice bit of Perspex.
I love the...
Cradled arms holding it. Yeah.
Hopefully it will just drop in
and be nice and secure.
OK. Shall we have a go?
Yeah. Shall we do it, then?
I'll come round. We have to be so
careful. I know, tell me about it.
Yeah, because obviously
this is where the damage was.
I will be as careful as I can be.
Yeah, I'll try. I know.
I think you'll have to help me with
the weight of it as well, actually.
OK. Come down gently.
Oh, you know what,
that's gone straight in.
Oh, my goodness. Look.
Literally, it fell in. No way.
I'm... Dom, you're a genius.
I am so chuffed with that.
Look at that. That's perfect.
Fantastic.
Thank you. Oh, good. Look at that!
For Maria, this precious artwork
serves as a tribute
to the life and work
of her beloved mother.
But it was badly damaged during
a bumpy flight from Argentina.
Hey, Maria. Hi. Hi.
Hi. Come in. Hi, there.
Eyes straight to the table.
Yeah. Are you excited? I am.
This represents a very happy
period in my mum's life, you know,
where she was being creative
and was really happy doing it.
Your mum sounded amazing.
She was. It would have been her 75th
birthday a couple of weeks ago.
So, you know, she...
She lives in me, in my thoughts,
and I talk to her. She's present.
But I think just to have something
tangible that I can touch
and I can see, what can I say,
will be really amazing.
Well, I hope you won't be
disappointed with what we've done.
I'm sure I won't be. Do you want
to have a look? Yes, please.
Yes. Go on, Kirsten.
Amazing.
Thank you.
Oh, my God. Thank you so much.
She would be so happy.
I mean, so happy to know
that it made it home.
And I think also by breaking it,
I put a bit of me in the history.
A bit of yourself. Yes, and you.
I just love that
you can't stop touching it.
I mean, it makes it...
Yeah, it's just beautiful.
Really beautiful to see.
She made this with her hands, right?
Yeah. Her hands were here.
Definitely a surface
that she touched a lot.
So I'm going to put it somewhere
where I can reach out
and touch it from time to time.
I just can't stop!
I'll be very careful with it
from now on, I promise.
We will get it packaged up
nice and safe for you
and get it sent back home.
Thank you so much.
You're welcome. Thank you.
It's been a pleasure.
See you later. Bye.
Well done. Well done.
I feel so happy about having it back
because I missed it,
because I know my mum made it,
because she's in there.
I think of all the work
and the love she put into it,
how important it was for her
to create this piece.
Already, I feel like
she's here with us.
And, you know, to have her with me,
with my son at home,
will be really amazing.
If you have a treasured possession
that's seen better days
and you think the team can help,
please get in touch at...
..and join us in The Repair Shop.