The Repair Shop (2017–…): Season 5, Episode 9 - Episode #5.9 - full transcript

Welcome to The Repair Shop, where
precious but faded treasures...

Where do you start
with something like this?

It's just a bag of bits.

..are restored
to their former glory.

My word,
that's something quite magical.

Furniture restorer Jay Blades...

It's so nice that we can be part
of that history

to keep things going.

..and a dream team
of expert craftspeople...

Deal? Deal.

Oh, my goodness. It works!



Probably be the first people
to see the inside of this.

..come together
to work their magic...

You can put your hand through.

Oh, hello!

Beautiful.

..employing heritage craft skills
passed down the generations...

It's my duty to make sure

that this all goes back
in working order.

..preserving
irreplaceable heirlooms.

It's absolutely amazing,
it really is.

It's like keeping
a bit of our family history alive.

The team will restore the items...

SHE GASPS

..the memories...



Yes! Yes!

..and unlock the stories
that they hold.

It's touched my heart.

It's amazing.

In the Repair Shop today...

Somebody wanted to make sure
this never came apart,

and they did a really good job.

..Suzie and Lucia join forces
to revive an adventurer's case

that travelled thousands of miles
across Africa.

I'm going to leave
those scars on it.

They all tell a story,
and that is great.

Will breathes new life
into a writing bureau

that served a local community
for three generations.

This broken corner looks
like it's been repaired before,

they've even used a couple of nails
here to tack it back on.

And for Dom, there are highs
and lows, restoring a 1930s seesaw.

The rust is so bad
that I can't actually really tell

what's what in there,
which makes me a bit nervous.

But first, a story of ingenuity...

.and scrap metal.

Hello there. You OK? I'm Dom.
I'm Simon. I'm Richard.

Let's have a look!

It's a bit on the large side.
You're not kidding!

Simon Mosley and his son, Jake,
have travelled from Portsmouth,

hoping optics expert Richard Biggs
and metal expert Dominic Chinea...

Let's get it inside.

..can get a fantastical,
marvellous machine working again.

Fantastic. Brilliant, well done.

Wow! You look shocked.

OK, where do we start?

Can we have a look? Yeah. Yeah,
let's unwrap it, let's get this out.

This is like Christmas.
Yeah, exactly.

What on earth is this?
It's actually a telescope.

It's a reflector telescope,
so it has a mirror on the end.

And this is the base
it all mounts on.

When it's working, you can adjust
the angles that it sits at.

You twist these and it spins...?
Spins and twists and everything.

The most fascinating thing is,

my dear old grandad
built it himself.

No, he didn't! From scrap.
Not from a kit, from plans...?

No, nothing like that. Edward?
Ed Ventham, everyone called him.

Or Ted, was his friendly name.

He was a lorry driver
for the Portsmouth Water Board. OK.

And during the Second World War,
he became an air raid warden

and he collected bits from bombsites
and scrapheaps

and built this. Amazing. It looks
tongue and groove, doesn't it?

It does. This is slats from a shop
in old Portsmouth that was bombed.

It's got old stopcock handles to do
all the adjustments. Oh, my God.

Yeah, the more I'm looking at it,
the more bits I can see. Exactly.

The mirror is a porthole
from a boat... Oh, you're kidding.

..which, he hand-ground
the mirror himself.

That takes days -
days and days and days. Yeah, yeah.

What do you mean when you
say ground? So that isn't flat?

No, if you... It's slightly concave.

So that is a lens.
That's got a dish,

it's a thick bit
of glass that's been...?

So the light comes in,
is then focused up to the prism,

and comes out to your eyepiece.

This is an impressive thing to make,
isn't it?

I'm kind of blown away.
He was a fantastic chap.

What was he like?
Amazing, amazing chap.

Really, really funny.
Really friendly.

But he always wanted
to better himself.

He was always reading books,
buying scrapbooks.

Real amazing person.
What a clever guy. Yeah.

I never met him.
I was born way after. Yeah.

But recently,
just finding out what he achieved...

No formal training.
Just had an interest. Just loved it.

Just a sensible chap,
who was interested in things.

Well done, Ted. Yeah.
Absolutely brilliant.

Yeah. So when did you actually
get this into your possession?

I first became aware of it
when my grandfather died in 1991.

We tried to get it set up
and working to watch Halley's Comet

when it came round, but it
wasn't really that successful.

This is the main problem.

When we had it set up,
it was slipping and moving,

there's obviously some damage
and some bent bits of metal.

Cor, this is going to be a job,
isn't it? Oh, yeah.

To get all this working again.

Glad I do the lenses,
you do the metal.

Yeah!

THEY LAUGH

Fantastic. Thank you very much for
bringing it in. We'll do our best.

Lovely to meet you. Thank you
ever so much for your time.

Lovely to meet you. See you later.
Bye now, take care, thank you.

Feeling excited, really excited
to have Grandfather's telescope

back working properly,
so that we can actually use it.

He was able to put that together
from scrapyard bits and bombsites...

Yeah. You don't expect
a lorry driver

to be able to
do something like that,

so it just shows the character
of my grandfather.

Just amazing. Amazing chap.

I'm kind of blown away by this.
Are you? Yes, indeed.

It's impressive. The actual
telescope can be made to work

cos the lens and the prism, that
will make just a telescope...

In theory, but...
It's then holding it in position...

Oh, I see what you're doing.

..which is your problem,
with the mount.

So that's...that's
quite a good little split,

so you have to take
all the fragile pieces. Yep.

I'll take the big, heavy bit.

Give you a hand with that.
That's a bit heavy.

Do you mind? Is that all right?
I do, but I'll give you a hand.

That's it. All right? Yeah.

You've got more weight than I have.
That's fine.

There's two things
that have to be almost perfect -

the lens has got
to be nicely silvered

and reflective at the back,

that's got to send up a lovely image
to hit that prism,

which has got to be clean
and in exactly the right position,

cos if it's slightly angled,

it's going to be sending the light
into the wrong place.

It's no wonder he didn't get
much of an image out of it.

You can see it's an old porthole.

SCRAPING

Ooh.

Oh, that was horrible.

He's actually put springs in,

so that the mirror
can be tilted and adjusted.

Oh, that is quite magic.

I'm well impressed.

Now that that's out completely,
it can go away to be mirrored.

They'll strip all the old stuff off,
clean it as much as possible.

But the overall effect when it comes
back, it will be quite staggering.

Right, let's get it off and away.

Next, a tale of adventure.

Rupert Truman has
a cherished hand-me-down

for the attention of
Suzie Fletcher and Lucia Scalisi.

Hello. Hi. Hello. Hi.

I'm Suzie. Hi, Suzie.
Rupert. Pleased to meet you.

Nice to meet you. Hello, I'm Lucia.
Hi, pleased to meet you.

So what we bought
into the Repair Shop today?

Well, this is Father's briefcase.
Dad was an adventurer.

He's taken this pretty much
everywhere he's been.

Wow. Oh, my goodness. You say
an adventurer. Yeah. Tell us more.

One day he found an advertisement
for a job in Africa,

so he half-heartedly sent off
for the thing,

went to London for the interview
with this bag on his knee,

got the job, and he took this case
to Africa with him. My word.

Where in Africa?

In Rhodesia,
as it was called in those days,

what we call Zimbabwe now. Zimbabwe.

On his way to the docks
to get on the boat to go,

he bought himself
an ex-Army Willys Jeep,

loaded it on the boat...

LUCIA GASPS

..arrived in South Africa.

Then he needed to find his way
2,000 miles or so up to...

It's a long, long drive.
How old was he?

He would have been just about 30.

Shortly after that,
he took a job in agriculture,

working for the Rhodesian government
on a project called Operation Noah.

When they built the Kariba Dam,
the damming of the Zambezi river

caused the water
to flood up behind it.

The animals would run
to the higher ground,

often find themselves
cut off from the mainland.

He'd recover those animals
and return them to the mainland,

effectively rescue them.

That is lovely. Yeah.
And how long was he in Africa for?

He had three or four
different spells out there.

Probably six or eight years
at a time.

My important years as a schoolboy
were spent out there,

it was a fabulous life,
and it's very cliched,

but this has been
a part of the family.

We went camping some place
and I remember

sitting with it on my knee,
using it as a breakfast tray.

I can remember it
being used as a doorstop.

This thing is just...
It's been ubiquitous.

It's been in our lives, you know.
What do you want us to do with this?

Well, clearly, there's
a lot of story in every mark,

in every scratch in this thing.

You know, I don't want
a new bag back.

I want my dad's bag back. Yeah.

Since as a kid,
I used to dress up in his shoes,

which were way too big for me,
And I'd wear his hat,

and I'd swing this bag
and I'd carry it around the house.

It...it really...
It's a piece of him.

You were very close to your father.
Very much so, yeah.

It's fantastic.

It's fantastic.
Thank you. Seriously.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for bringing in
this wonderful adventurer's case.

My pleasure. And I'm so looking
forward to start working on it.

My pleasure. Thank you very much.
Such an exciting and lovely story.

Yeah. Lovely. Thank you.
Thank you very much.

We'll be in touch. Bye-bye. Bye.

My hope is that we'll be able
to put the bag back to use.

Him and that bag
travelled millions of miles,

they did everything together.

I think he'd be pleased
to know that the bag and I,

we're going to continue the journey
that he started with it.

It was such a nice story, wasn't it?
Really lovely.

Yeah. And for this lovely,
adventurer's bag

to have that whole family history
in there? Definitely.

What do you think
you're going to do to it?

It's got some
pretty critical damage here.

The main part being in the gusset.

The holes - it's like Swiss cheese.

So typically what I do

is take the bag entirely apart,

line the gusset.... Yeah.
..to give it the strength,

because I want to keep
the outside appearance complete.

Same as with the handle.

His father's hand
has been wrapped around it.

Those are the main things
I've got to focus on.

Give it a really good
clean and condition.

But what do you think
about the lettering?

Yeah, I think the lettering,

it's been through many years
of experience and adventures -

keep it absolutely minimal,
any intervention I do.

But maybe just pick up a little bit
of this letter T. Perfect.

OK, well I'm going to take it
over to my bench, get started,

and then I'll bring it
over to you to finish off.

Great. All right. Lovely, thanks.

The first thing
I'm going to have to do

is take this bag completely apart.

That means undoing all the stitching
that's holding the gusset in.

And, once I've got the gusset out,
I'll be able to lay it flat

and line it
with some strengthening leather.

I've really got to be careful,
cos it could so very easily tear.

But, one stitch at a time,
I'll get there.

Somebody wanted to make sure
this never came apart,

and they did a really good job.

As Suzie toils away,

unpicking stitch by tiny stitch...

..in the outdoor workshop,

Dom is discovering some very
surprising fixtures and fittings.

Oh, here we go. Oh! Oh...

..as he wrestles to dismantle the
hefty home-made telescope's base.

HE STRAINS

It's a real mash of parts,

so I don't know where
some of these parts have come from,

like maybe trucks
or big, big water mains.

Some of these nuts
are absolutely massive.

At some point,
I think it's fallen over

and the weight of the thing
has bent this main shaft.

This is quite a big problem,

and that worm gear there needs to
run against these brass teeth,

and that needs to be perfect.

So this wobbling around like that
is not going to work.

Inside the barn,

Richard will be seeking
similar precision

as he sets about restoring
the telescope's optics.

If you look at the muck
on the prism there,

golly, it's filthy.

That's, um, woodlice poo.

Methylated spirits
is getting all the grease...

..and the dust off.

It's coming up really quite well.

I don't think I'm going to have to
use anything more abrasive.

So that slides back in.

I don't know
why that bolt is so long,

but it don't really matter.

Ah, it's so long because...

..three of these screws

are the adjustable ones.

So I can get the actual angle
of the prism correct

to the angle of the main lens.

If the angle's wrong,

the light gets scattered away
from the eyepiece.

More and more impressed
with his workmanship.

Meanwhile, Dom's work on the bent

and twisted turning mechanism
continues.

Unfortunately, it's bent
right on the threaded part,

so I'm going to
try and heat up the area

and try and bend it back into shape
whilst that's hot.

It just needed a little tweak,

and it seems to have worked
pretty well.

These two bearings need replacements
because these are both bent.

These are part of the main worm gear
that hold the main adjustment.

So I've got myself
an old skateboard.

I'm going to take off a couple
of bearings out of one wheel

and see if they're the same size.

There we go, so that's
one of the bearings out.

And you know what?
It does look close.

So that hopefully now...

..should...

..slot... Oh, fantastic.

That's exactly right.

I'm going to be able to use
the bearings from this skateboard

to repair Grandad Ted's
old telescope,

which is quite magic, really,

to be able to
follow in his footsteps.

The whole mechanism wouldn't turn
before, and it's now spinning,

so it's a hundred times
better than before,

so it's going to function
as it should.

The up-cycled mechanics of the base

are finished with
a protective coating of enamel,

while, inside, the glass lens
is back from being resurfaced.

It's not bad considering the age
of this glass - what, 70-odd years?

It will produce a much better image

than it was when it first came in.

The mirror and the prism have to be
in the same optical path,

or you don't get a very good image.

I can actually use these to adjust

the position of the mirror
relative to the prism.

And this goes back on here.

Oh!

This is the biggest telescope

I've ever had to manhandle
round on a bench to work on.

Now going to fit the prism.

That's ready to go in.

Down gently.

The prism's in its position,

but not quite adjusted yet.

No, can can't see anything at all.

The mirror and the prism
are not in position at all.

So I've got to get my hand right in
and actually...

..just by feel,
cos I can't see what I'm doing,

get the adjustment screws.

Now I'm getting an image
somewhere about there.

This is going to be fun,
trying to think what's happening

and do an adjustment

without actually being able
to see what I'm doing.

As Richard fine-tunes
the telescope...

..outside, Kathryn Lovell
and her dad, John,

have arrived from Northampton.

They have an heirloom
that needs the expertise

of furniture restorer Will Kirk.

Hello. Hello, hi. I'm Will.

Hi. Kathryn.
Nice to meet you, Kathryn.

And John. And John. Hi, Will.
Nice to meet you.

This beautiful piece is yours,
I presume? Yes. Yes. Yeah.

It was my grandfather's,

and Dad's dad's.

It's kind of been in our lives
forever, really. Yeah.

How did it come into the family?

My grandad's grandmother ran
the Post Office in their village,

and they took over the running
of the Post Office in 1903.

OK. Then her daughter ran it
and then Grandad ran it

with his wife, my nana.

The family had run the Post Office
in the village for 83 years.

Oh, my gosh. So a long time.
That's long time.

So we know that his mother sat at it
to do her accounts and book-keeping.

And then, when Grandad
took over the Post Office,

he would sit at it
and do his accounts.

You know, Grandad was either sat
in his armchair next to it

or he was sat at it,
doing some work or writing.

He was really proud
of his penmanship.

Like, he would make sure his writing
was really neat, wouldn't he? Yeah.

And he would sit and draft
every letter he wrote... Really?

..before he wrote it formally.

Me and my sister would sit at it
and we would draw or play games.

He taught us how to play
dominoes and cribbage.

He just seemed to be
this kind of hero in my eye, really.

So what was your grandfather's name?

He was Harry, Harry Lovell.

He was just the most amazing man.

VOICE CRACKING: He was so gentle
and generous and kind-hearted

and so well thought of.

He was wonderful.

Yeah. Even now, we go back to the
village and everybody remembers him.

And, um, yeah...

It's really nice
that you're very close

with your grandfather and you've got
those vivid memories of him,

penning his letters on here.

But because it's broken and it
can't really be used to write at,

it's kind of just become
a bit of a storage unit.

That's why we'd love it
to get restored

so that we carry on that tradition.

Especially the fact that it's been
in the family for so many years.

Yeah. It's damaged, you say?

Yeah. I guess the biggest bit
that stops us using it

is where the hinge has snapped off.

I always, always remember it -
there was a crack on the inside. OK.

And I remember getting chastised

because you used to have to pull
both arms out and the top drawer.

Yeah. That's what grandad wanted.

If you hadn't got the top drawer
out, you were in trouble.

THEY LAUGH

If you pull out the other side
and the top drawer...

THEY LAUGH

..and this out here.

Oh, gosh. Yeah.

Has someone tried to
tape this back together?

I think it might have been taped
at some point, yeah.

Right, got that nasty break there.
Yeah.

On this side of the actual bureau,

these panels
are splitting quite badly.

And then on the top here, I can see
there's a bit of water damage.

There was a plant pot there.

So that's probably
that water damage then!

THEY LAUGH

I can see that.

Yeah, it's just looking a bit sad.

Well used for over 100 years?

Well, it must be, mustn't it?
It must be now. Yeah.

And we want people to use it.
It's...

You know,
that's what it's there for.

Whatever you can do, really.

You leave it with me and I will see
what I can do. Brilliant.

Thank you very much for coming down.
It's really nice to meet you both.

Lovely to meet you. Thanks a lot.
See you soon. Bye-bye. Bye.

It seems really strange
to get quite emotional

about what is essentially
a piece of furniture,

but Grandad
was such an important person

and so you kind of look at that
and think of him.

It was part of Dad.

And if Will can make it so we can
use it, that's just what we want.

Absolutely perfect.

JAY: How you doing, Will?
I'm about to make a start.

So what have you got
to do to this then?

There's some splits
going down the sides,

Oh, yeah. Bits of marks
on the top. OK.

But, on the inside...

Oh. Look at that.
Yeah, that's broken, innit?

And you can see
someone's tried to fix it before.

So that needs to be fixed
or replaced.

I'll see if Brenton
can actually fix that,

but he would need
to have that off as well. Yeah.

I think it's worth keeping as much
of the original hinge as possible.

Yeah. Looks like you've got
your work cut out, ain't you? I do.

All right, enjoy. Nice one.

Having painstakingly unpicked
all the stitching

from the tired and tattered
leather case,

Suzie is making a start
on the interior.

I have finally got the gusset

of the adventurer's case
taken apart,

but we have got some pretty
significant holes in the leather.

I'm going to line this gusset
with a new piece of lining leather,

and this will give it back
its strength

and fill those holes
and those cracks.

So the glue is almost dry,
it's a bit tacky, which is perfect.

So...

..this is where
I get a little bit in a mess.

But I've got the centre line here.

Just going to drop that on to...

I'm not pressing it as such,

I'm just letting it roll down
through the length.

I'm just trying to sort of iron out
all the little kinks in it.

I think I just about won
that battle.

I just need to let the glue cure

and then we'll be ready to
trim it up for stitching together.

Right, so now I'm at the point
where I can start repairing

the handle of Rupert's case.

Fortunately, this handle
isn't as bad as it looks,

but the chapes,
which are the pieces of leather

that the hold the handle
on each side,

are showing signs of wear.

So I need to get those replaced

and then I can just
tidy up the handle.

I just need to do a crease mark
around the edge here,

and this is partly for decoration,

but also it helps me line up

what we call a pricking iron
to mark the holes for stitching.

OK, so...

..now I've got the prick marks
in place,

that's ready for me
to stitch back onto the bag.

But, before I do that,
I do need to do

a little bit of work
on the handle itself.

It still has its strength
because the inside is made

of a very heavy leather and it's
covered by this softer leather

that's just wrapped around.

I just want to glue this down.

OK, so now all I have to do
is just sew up these two ends

and it'll be ready to be mounted.

Now I've got everything prepared,
ready for reassembling,

and I'm a big fan
of stitching cases by hand

rather than doing them
on a sewing machine

because hand-stitching is,
in many cases, a lot stronger.

So it's all back together,
which is wonderful.

I'd like to take it over to Lucia
and see if she can maybe

help pick out these letters
a little bit better.

It's been a mission that's needed

the combined efforts
of Dom and Richard.

Now the scrap metal telescope

is almost ready for stargazing
once again.

The last thing
is to take the eyepiece out...

..and replace it
with a laser collimator.

If I get a beam near dead centre,

it proves to my satisfaction

that the mirror and the prism
are lined up.

It's not bad.

With the optics now clear,
science meets heavy metal

as the two giant sections
can be reunited.

OK. Yeah, I'll hold those.
Go on, then.

Round...

THEY LAUGH

Cor, imagine Grandad Ted
setting this up on his own

on his shed roof. He must have
had one of his mates to help him.

It's such a big old thing.

So, hopefully, if I undo that,
it should spin.

Yeah. Yeah? There we go.

That's working,
which is really good

cos that's the bit
that was broken before.

And the balance now means
that you've got that slow motion.

Perfect. Oh, it's so nice to see it
all working properly. Super.

Good. What you've done there
is absolutely brilliant.

What are you doing? Oh!

Get out of it!

With the telescope pointing
proudly skywards once again,

it's time for Simon,
along with son Jake,

to collect his grandad's legacy.

I'm very, very, very excited
about seeing the telescope

and just that connection through
using something that Grandad built,

that Mum used, and actually looking
up at the moon that they looked at.

Hiya. Nice to see you again.
Good to see you again. You OK?

How are you feeling?
Excited. Really excited.

So you hope we've done it?

Yeah. This isn't just some frame
making us think it's there, is it?

Uh-oh. Stand back. You ready? Yeah.

Wow! Look at that.

Gosh!

It's fantastic.

You absolute diamonds.
That's amazing.

I don't want to touch it.

No, please do. Yeah. Oh, wow!

JAKE: The first time
I've ever seen it in one piece.

It's an impressive thing.
Yeah, it really is.

Oh, just... I'm speechless.

I don't know what to say
other than thank you.

You're welcome. You're welcome.

I think we've both been right
in the mind of Grandad Ted.

He would be absolutely amazed.
He'd be so pleased.

He did a brilliant job.

Oh! Blown away. Absolutely amazing.

Does it take you back? Do you want
to have a look through it?

Shall we open the doors?
Let's do it. Yes? Let's do it. Cool.

That's a slow motion that way
or you can disengage...

Oh, I'm with you. ..and spin it

without it going ratchety,
ratchety, ratchety. Yes.

So what I'm aiming for is the
brickwork down on that building.

I suppose it's got to see things
a long way away, hasn't it? Yeah!

Have a look at the bricks. OK.

Oh, wow.

You can almost see the grains
of sand between the bricks.

Yeah. That's amazing.

Have a look, Jake.
That's just stunning.

Wow. It's great, isn't it?
It is, isn't it? Oh, my God.

How did you get that so perfect?
It's incredible, isn't it?

It's Ted that got it so perfect.
Yeah, he got it absolutely spot on.

When I look through the telescope,
I'm absolutely amazed

at the clarity of the image.
It was absolutely pristine.

Great respect to the chaps
that have done it. It looks amazing

and I'm going to have such fun
using it. I really am.

Yeah, looking forward to it. Yeah.

I think the first thing I'm going
to do is start with the moon.

You can't miss that, can you?

I'm sure if Grandad was here today,

he'd be absolutely thrilled
to see it.

I'm sure he'd be absolutely
over the moon -

over the moon! - over the moon
to actually see it

all up and running again.

After his success
with the home-made telescope,

there's no rest for Dom.

The arrival of another project means
he's straight back into action.

Hello. Hello. I'm Jay.

I'm Joanna. Hi, Joanna. Hi, Joanna.
I'm Dom. Nice to see you.

Joanna Butterwick has brought
a rare and curious item...

Oh, look at that!

..that gave her immense joy
as a child,

and she's hoping
the Repair Shop team

can help her replicate that joy
for a new generation.

Come on in. Thank you.

You need to tell us what this is.
This is a seesaw,

which goes up and down
and round and round.

Hold on - a seesaw normally
goes that. Goes up and down.

And then spins around?
It spins round too.

So this is from a funfair, then?
It must be.

No. My sister had
a very wealthy godmother,

and I think she must
have brought it over from America

in the 1930s. Brilliant! Right.

She gave it to me on the condition
that I had it mended.

So what did it do? It sat
in my garage for probably 35 years.

So have you played on this then?

Oh, as a child, endlessly.
Yes. Yeah? Yes, all the time.

So you would seesaw and then spin.
Whizz round and round, yes.

Can we open this, though?
Shall we try? Yeah.

Flap your end over. Like that.
Yeah, that's it. Yeah.

So what would you like Dom
to do to this, then?

Make it work.

I've got a young family
that come and stays with me

for about two months every summer.
OK.

And they're always asking me
to get it mended as well,

so this is what pushed me
into doing it.

So they're excited to... Yes.
..get on this?

And they're very adventurous
children, so they'll enjoy it, too.

OK. So you would like it
to be usable? Yes, please.

And then looking shiny again,
the way that you remember it.

That would be wonderful, yes. OK.

Thank you, Joanna, for bringing
this in. Oh, thank you so much.

It's a pleasure.
Lovely to meet you as well.

Thank you very much. Thank you.
It's been lovely. You take care now.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

This is cool, isn't it? It is cool.
Isn't it brilliant?

I feel it was disgraceful of me
to leave such a beautiful toy

in such a terrible condition
for so long.

If Dom is able
to get it working again,

it will be wonderful
to have a functioning toy.

The children
will be simply delighted.

So sounds like
you've got your work cut out.

The timber on here, I think is
quite nice. It's beautiful.

It's just structurally,
isn't it, really?

It's just the mechanism in here,
the metal work.

This is all rusty.
I've got missing parts here. OK.

The main thing
is getting it apart, then?

Yeah. You know what,
that's going to be the issue.

I need to get in there
to see what's broken.

All right, well,
let's get it over to your bench

so you can get it apart.
We'll try, yeah. OK.

So this main central hub
is my main headache, really.

It's holding
the whole thing together

and it's also the mechanism
to make it spin,

which it isn't at the moment.

I'm hoping that this main bar,

if I can get this pin out,

should just drive out that way.

And that one pin is what's
holding these two arms on.

So if that comes out,
then I'll be left with the main hub

and two arms, which will be ideal
cos then I can put these to one side

and just deal with
this main central section.

The Flexy Whirl seesaw
was produced in America

by SL Allen and Company
back in the 1930s,

meaning this one is now rare
and collectable -

providing, of course,
Dom can get it up and running.

Get these out...

Brilliant. So now I've got
the wooden pieces out of the way,

both big arms,
I've got actually better access

to the main central hub parts.

The rust is so bad
that I can't actually really tell

what's what in there,
which makes me a bit nervous.

I basically need to break this down

into all of its
individual components

and get it completely apart so I can
fix it to then put it back together.

Busy with his restoration
of the writing bureau,

Will's immediate challenge
is reattaching the piece of wood

that has sheared off from
the fold-down writing surface.

This broken corner looks
like it's been repaired before.

They've even used a couple of nails
here to tack it back on.

Now that those two nails are out,
it seems to be fitting a lot better.

I'm just going to clean out

some of this residue and dirt
with some sandpaper.

I think there's a couple of bits
of glue that are just preventing it

from going in nice and flush.

Like that piece there.

That's a really nice fit. I'm going
to get some glue in there now.

The glue that I'll use
is some pearl glue.

Now, that's hot and I'm going
to brush that on there.

And then that will start to cure, it
will start to sort of crystallise.

Once this glue has set,

then hopefully
it should be as good as new.

Across the barn, silversmith
Brenton West is about to repair

the bureau's 100-year-old hinge
that has snapped in two.

I'm going to solder this
with a silver solder.

So I'm just putting these on here

to protect the knuckles
of the hinges from getting too hot.

I don't want those to fall off,

cos the hinge will then become
five or six pieces

and I'd rather it stayed as one.

Not getting hot enough.

I'm going to have to go
for a bigger flame.

Right, that's that all soldered up.

I just need to let that cool down,
clean it up

and give it back to Will.

All right? Hey, that's not
the same one, is it? Yeah, it is.

Ah! As if it was never broken,
Brenton.

Thank you.
That's the idea, isn't it?

Wonderful. OK. Cheers.

Brenton has done such a good job
on fixing that hinge.

Seamless.

This bureau has, I think,
been near a source of heat

because everything has kind of
shrunk and warped in different ways.

This side panel here is made of
two separate pieces of wood.

Both panels have slowly
moved away from each other,

creating this gap
on the bottom here.

I'm going to fill that gap
with a new piece of oak,

shape it in
and colour it in to match,

and this side will look perfect
once more.

After hours of skilled leather-work,

the well travelled and much-loved
case is now structurally sound,

but needs the artistic eye
and deft touch of Lucia Scalisi

to preserve
the all-important initials

of the original owner.

I'm just going to strengthen the T.

This whole side
has all but disappeared, really.

And I'm just using little tiny dots

just to bring
the outer edges together.

I don't want to do too much.

I just want to make it
more readable.

That's probably about it.

I'm going to leave
those scars on it.

They all tell a story,
and that is great. I'm finished.

Now that Lucia has done
the picking out the letters,

got that lovely and vibrant,

what I need to do now
is just go over it very lightly

with a conditioner.

You can really see the beautiful
copper, horse chestnut colour

and you just can't emulate that.

It just has to occur through age.

But when you're doing
the final buffing up,

that's when I really get excited. I
can see all the work that I've done

and the life that's
been put back into the case.

There we have
that beautiful sheen.

I'm really happy.

The most important thing
is that Rupert's happy, though,

so I can't wait to give it to him.

When Rupert brought the case
to the Repair Shop,

he was intent on having it preserved

as a symbol of the bond between him
and his late father.

Now he's returned,
along with his daughter, Lucy.

I'm here today to pick up
my father's leather briefcase.

As a little boy, I dreamed of
growing into that man

and carrying that case,
and I'm hopeful that I get a chance.

This is something
very precious to him

and he's quite emotional about it.

So I'm really excited to see
how it's turned out.

I'm sure he's going to be
very happy.

Hi. Hey, Rupert. Good to see you
again. Good to see you.

How are you? Hi. Lovely to meet you.
And you are? Lucy.

Lucy, lovely to meet you.

Well, how are you feeling?

Excited. Are you? Very excited.

I'm just dying to see.
I really am dying to see.

All right. Well, I'm going to
put you out of your misery here.

My... Wow.

Wow, that is... That is stunning.

I...

I had a picture in my head
as a little boy of what this...

..what this case was going to
look like, and there it is.

It's got its shape back.

It's a beautiful colour.

And, look, the holes have gone.

That is incredible.

And that's exactly how
I imagined it was going to feel.

What are you thinking?
I'm thinking he's there.

Yeah, he's there with me.

There's something very tangible
about that handle, isn't there?

Definitely, yeah.

I can most definitely feel him,

going off on his...
on his adventures.

You know, big moments and small
moments, they're all there.

Thank you. You've...
You've given me that back.

It's wonderful.

You're very, very welcome.

Thank you, Rupert.
Thank you very much.

It's been wonderful. Thank you.

And lovely to meet you.
Thank you ever so much.

You're very welcome.

So you take care. Thank you.

Look after that case.
I will. Most definitely.

OK. Bye-bye.

That is...
That's been quite a moment.

It was just everything I'd hoped
for. It was more than I'd hoped for.

I know that every time
I use that case, you know,

he's going to be...
he's going to be with me.

I take him with me
everywhere I go now.

But it's going to feel
a little bit stronger having that...

having that connection
in my hand like he did.

In an attempt to dismantle the
seesaw's rusty central mechanism,

metal maestro Dom is using heat
to help loosen the ancient fixings.

I'm terrified of cracking
this cast section

because cast iron
is just a nightmare.

If that breaks, I would just be
in a world of trouble.

I don't want to get it too hot

because that could risk fracturing
and cracking the cast.

I'm putting so much pressure
leaning on this,

if that's all seized up in there,
there's a huge risk

that something's going to snap
or something's going to break.

I mean, if that bolt snaps
in there, in the cast, it...

It would be a disaster.

Getting that pin out
was nerve-racking.

I'm really relieved that that's out.

Now I can finally have access to

this main little castle nut
in the middle here.

At least I can see
what I'm working with now.

Brilliant.

Now I can lift off this top piece.

This is a big moment and...

Ah.

All right, OK, so that is
ball bearings in there.

These are all individual little
loose balls. But that's good.

That means basically now
I'll bag up all of these balls

before I drop them on the floor
and lose them.

Keep those safe, and then the other
parts can go off to be sandblasted.

Clean it all up and that should
reassemble really nicely.

That should spin really freely.

I've got all the wooden parts
separated from all the metal parts.

Now it's just time
to get stuck into these.

I love the paintwork.
It looks beautiful.

It's the original paint.
Really nice.

Unfortunately, the paint
is just a bit too far gone

on the seats and handlebars.

It's always sad to have
to sand off the original paint,

but Joanna's kind of made that
decision for me, almost,

because she wants to be able
to use the seesaw again

and to be able to use it,

these parts at least need to be
sanded down and repainted.

Hopefully I can keep
the rest of the original paint.

With the seat and handlebars
sanded and primed,

they can be finished with
a hard-wearing gloss paint.

This is a lovely red colour.
It really is nice, that deep red,

and it's the same paint
I'm going to use for the woodwork

as the metal work
for the main central hub section.

Different primer because
that's metal and this is wood

but the same top coat
so it all ties in nicely.

I've got all the steel parts
for the seesaw

back from sandblasting now.

It's usually bad news
basically when things come back

from sandblasting. It strips off
all the paint, all the flaky rust

and the loose bits and just leaves
me with the bare, solid metal,

which is quite often not very much.

But in this case, all the metalwork
looks to be really good condition.

The main hub,
it was really rusty in there.

It was all seized
with that spinning mechanism,

this has cleaned all of it out.

So now, once I've put
the ball bearings back in,

that should reassemble
really nicely.

That should spin really freely.

Now that the Post Office's bureau
is structurally sound again,

Will can focus on the aesthetics

and start replenishing
the century-old wood.

It's all clean and ready for waxing.

Before I can do that, I need to take
these stains off the top surface.

I could sand them out,

but that would be unnecessary damage
to the wood.

What I'm using is oxalic acid
in a crystal form.

You put onto the surface
and it draws the stain out

without damaging the wood itself.

You really don't want to be
breathing it in

or getting it into your eyes,

so I've got a safety mask on
and some safety goggles.

With a circular motion, I'm going to
start really working it in there.

If you look on the cloth there,
it's definitely changed colour.

I mean, that was once white.

I'm now going to neutralise it
with this alkaline solution.

That stain's
almost completely disappeared,

and I haven't had to do
any sanding at all.

Well, there we are.
All the woodwork is done.

I personally think that
the bureau looks lovely.

And now I think it's got
a new injection of life.

So the last thing I need to do,
I'm going to put in some stationery,

a notepad and a pen that might
inspire Kathryn to do some writing,

and the bureau will be complete.

The bureau had served generations
of Kathryn's family

and especially her beloved grandad,
but damage had rendered it obsolete.

Now Kathryn and her dad are back,

eager for its return
to practical use.

Since the bureau has been away,

it's been like a bit of a hole
in our lives, really.

Thinking about what Grandad
would make of it all.

Every single day of his life, for
some reason, he'd be sitting at it.

It's been through five generations,

so if we can get it through another
few more now, that'd be really good.

Really exciting now to see
what he's managed to do. Yeah.

Big moment.

Nice to see you again.
Nice to see you as well.

Nice to see you as well.

How are you both?
Good. Good, yeah. Excited.

Been looking forward
to see what's here? Yes.

Yes. Do you remember...?
Stop peeking!

No peeking! Do you remember what it
looked like when it first came in?

Broken hinge.
Yeah, cracks in the side. Yeah.

Do you want to have a look?

Yeah. Go on. Yeah?

Are you ready? OK.

Oh, wow. Oh, my God.

That's amazing.

Seeing that now, it's... Oh!
How have you done that?

That's magic.

It's brilliant, Will.

Beautiful. Thank you.

Are you pleased?

Yeah, really pleased.

Are you OK? Yeah.

Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.
It looks amazing.

How did you do it?

Magic!

No, it wasn't magic at all.

Would you like to
have a look inside? Yeah. Yeah.

Now, don't forget to pull out
the drawer in the middle.

Oh! You've mended the hinge.

Brenton did a great job
on fixing that hinge.

That's amazing.

Look at that. You can't even see it.
Is it the original bit of wood?

Yeah. Wow!

You can't even see
how it fits together.

So do you think that your
grandfather would be pleased

to see the bureau
back in good shape?

He'd be more emotional than us.
He would.

He'd be so touched. He spent
so much time working at this.

And to see it how it was, well, 50
odd years ago, when I was a lad...

It's not had that much love
in a long time, has it, really? No.

I can't believe you've done it.

It's beyond anything we could
have hoped for, really. That's nice.

It will be amazing now to actually
be able to sit at it again.

It's really special. Thank you.

Well, it has been an absolute
pleasure to restore this

for you and for your family
and the future generations.

I will make sure that we can get
it shipped over to you. Thank you.

It's been a pleasure. Thank you
so much for everything you've done.

We're really grateful.
You're welcome. Bye-bye. Bye.

We're so pleased with what
Will's managed to do in there

with that bureau.

It just looks so beautiful. Yeah.

Just absolutely gobsmacked.

Now I can look at it
and just remember Grandad using it,

think of him when I'm sat at it
and that's going to be so special.

Despite the ups and downs, Dom has
nearly completed the restoration

of the 1930s seesaw.

You're making a lot of noise
out here. I know, sorry. Yeah.

Just a final assembly now of the
seesaw. It's looking smart, though.

It's looking smart.

You have cleaned that up well.
It's coming together.

Blimey, look, you've already
done one side already.

Yeah, steaming ahead with one side.

Yeah, these are going to
end up sitting out here.

This is all very nearly there now,
but just lots of little fiddly nuts

and bolts. OK. If you don't mind
giving us a hand... OK.

I'll hold that, I'll hold that.

You're going to poke that
through the holes.

We'll line these up.
Oh, that goes in the middle. Yeah.

This is proper fiddly! Yeah.

I'm so glad you're here, Jay,

cos I don't even know
if we can do it with two of us.

How do we do this?

All right...

How do you...? I'm not sure.

All right.

So that's got to go
through this hole,

through those two in the middle.
Through there, through there.

Let me spin it. There you are.
Thank you. Cool. Perfect.

So basically...
So hopefully now, if we let go,

that should...

Ha-ha! Look!

Well done! Brilliant.
That is cool! Look.

But that. It's holding. Yeah.
Does it spin as well?

I really hope so. It should do.

Oh, over that. Isn't that cool?
That is very cool.

Look, it goes up and down,
round and round.

The younger ones in the family
are going to really enjoy this.

It's brilliant, isn't it?

This seesaw provided Joanna
hours of fun as a youngster,

but the years saw it deteriorate,

with missing parts
and rusty components.

But hours of patient endeavour
by Dom have revived it,

ready to be enjoyed
by a new generation.

Oh, my goodness.

The great unveiling!

Hello! Hello.

How are you? I'm Jay.
Your name is? Molly.

Molly. Betty. Betty.

And you are? Daisy. Daisy.

And hello again. Hello.
How are you doing? You all right?

Yes, fine.

Who have you brought with you, then?
They're very dear family friends

who I've known all their lives,
and Daisy I've known all her life.

Daisy, so have you
had a go on this when it was...?

No, it's always been broken.
Always been broken.

Oh, you've seen this before as well?
Yeah, in the back of the garage.

It's just, like...

Just shoved at the back? OK, right.

So, Joanna, when you brought it in,
what was it like?

It was in a very sad state.

Right. A lot of chipped paint
and rust.

And I wasn't sure
you were ever going to be able

to make it work again.

So what would you like to see
underneath this blanket?

A really nice big seesaw.

OK! That goes up and down
and round and round.

OK. All right.

She doesn't need much, does she?
Doesn't want much at all.

OK. So, girls, are you ready
to see this?

Yeah. Yeah? OK.
Come on, let's do it.

Wow! Wow! That's amazing. Wonderful.

Isn't it amazing?
It's beautiful.

It used to be a lump of old-ness.

A lump of old-ness? Yes.

That's a good way of describing it.
A technical term!

Yeah. But now it's new.

It is a work of art.

It's just amazing.

Does it look better
than it did before? Yeah.

What we'll do,
we'll take it outside... Let's go.

..and you can have a go on it.
You're smiling already!

Come on, let's take it outside.
Yeah. Come on, then.

Oh, they're keen. All right.
They're on.

Just make sure you be safe,
girls, yeah?

Yeah. And go round and round.
Push it.

Oh, isn't that wonderful? Isn't it?

That's so good.

Try and fly, try and fly.

Oh! Very good!

My legs are too short!

I'm so dizzy!

Now, that is perfect.
That's perfect. That's it, yeah.

Oh, it's wonderful.

My children played on the seesaw,
so it brought back memories of that.

And myself, of course.

I could never imagine it
being that fun.

It's so fast
and it goes all the way round.

Join us again...

This is not going to be an easy job!

..as more relics are revived...

..in the Repair Shop.