02x10 - Victorian Clockwork Rabbit

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to The Repair Shop,

where cherished family heirlooms are
brought back to life...

This is the workshop of dreams.

..home to furniture restorer
Jay Blades.

Nowadays, everybody spends a fortune
on stuff.

Once it's broken, they just bin it.

But everybody has something that
means too much to be thrown away.

And that's where we come in.

Working alongside Jay will be
some of the country's

leading craftspeople.

Every piece has its own story.

It's amazing to think that some of
my work becomes part of that story.

I've always played with things, I've
always repaired things,

and I just love it. There is a real
pleasure in bringing people's pieces

back to life again.

Each with their own unique set
of skills...

Right tool for the right job.

..they will resurrect, revive...

Come on, man! ..and rejuvenate...

..treasured possessions

and irreplaceable pieces of
family history...

Wow! She's fantastic!

..bringing both the objects...
SHE GASPS

This is what I remember.

..and the memories that they hold...

Wow! ..back to life.

Oh, my God!

In The Repair Shop today,

some unusual methods in the
restoration of a piece of
military history...

I think if we are going to try and
clean it,

let's go with something like a
baby shampoo.

..while horologist Steve turns his
hand to repairing

a rare antique clockwork toy.

The actual bottom jaw doesn't work
at the moment,

so I'm just going to hopefully pop
out the unit.

I feel like a veterinary surgeon
doing this.

The first visitor to arrive at
The Repair Shop is Amelia McNeely,

carrying an item of huge
sentimental value.

Hi. Hello. How are you doing? Good.

You must be... Amelia. Amelia. Nice
to meet you. I'm Jay.

You all right? Yeah, good! So, what
have we got in here, then?

My granny's treasure chest.

I'm a bit embarrassed about
the state...

But... This is definitely...

Will. If you don't mind, sir.
Come and join us.

Will Kirk's woodwork expertise is
required for this treasure chest,

which holds cherished
childhood keepsakes.

So, when you say it's granny...
How come you've got this?

Yeah, it does sound like there's
lots of... Lots of treasure.

Might be granny's gold in there. My
granny, when I was seven...

OK. ..gave it to me. It was her
treasure chest

she got when she was seven.

My granny was very, very important
to us.

She came to live with us for a
while, and now I want to pass it on

to my granddaughter. Right.

And she's eight, so I've missed
a year.

So, Will...

I heard the intake of breath.

THEY LAUGH

You said it's missing a leg.

We might have some pieces... And I
think there's a scroll...

Yeah, so we're missing an entire
scroll, there.

But in the top drawer, there are
some bits...

Shall I have a little peek? Yeah.
Go for it.

There's loads of stuff in there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's treasure
in there!

Treasure, yeah. You wouldn't happen
to have an entire

missing scroll from there? No. No. I
don't think so.

OK. No. I know it won't be perfect
but if it could stand up straight...

That would help. That will mean it
will last another generation.

Another generation, exactly. So,
thank you for bringing it in. Jay,
thank you so much.

You're more than welcome. Thank you
for coming. Bless you!

THEY LAUGH
Thanks. Thanks a lot.

Bye, then. Bye-bye.

This restoration is going to test
all of Will's woodworking skills.

So, this treasure chest is in a bit
of a bad state.

The scroll on the left side had
previously been broken

and glued back. It's not a
great job.

However, the fact that they have
glued it on has probably prevented

that from getting lost. So,
you know...

..every cloud, I suppose.

So, we have a mixture of structural
damage and cosmetic damage.

I mean, like, the back of the
drawer, broken.

The drawer divider, broken.

There's a big split running down the
side, here.

Yeah, it's in a bad state.

So, I'm going to get some glue in
there, clamp that up.

Whilst that is drying,

I can then start looking into that
scroll because that's probably

the first thing that I'm quite
worried about,

and quite nervous to tackle.

Next at The Repair Shop, it's a
family affair.

Cousins Fiona Porter and
Janette Scott

have brought with them a highly
unusual item from their childhood,

for the attention of
clockwork expert Steve.

Right, what have we got in here?

A rabbit in a cabbage. A rabbit in
a cabbage?

Right. Now, I have seen these
rabbits before.

I've never actually handled one.

Right. So, the rabbit comes out and
turns its head?

A little bit, yes. It'll come out,
turn its head a little bit,

the music will play...

Oh, the music plays? Yes. Right, so
there's a musical box in there.

It's a musical rabbit. Tell me about
the history of this piece.

Well, it belonged to
our grandmother,

and I think when our mums
were younger,

they were allowed to play with it...

Yeah. ..when they were ill, as a
very special treat. Oh, I see. Yes.

So, when was the last time you
remember this being played with?

Well, I played with it in the '50s,

maybe early '60s. And that's the
last I saw of it.

Right, OK. Then I was clearing my
mother's bungalow after she'd moved

into a care home, and to
my amazement,

found the rabbit in a paper bag, and
was thrilled to find it.

That must have meant a lot to you.

Yeah. Absolutely. In fact, I was so
excited when Fiona told me, I said,

"Let's have a rabbit dinner

"and we'll show my new granddaughter
this wonderful piece of history

"from our family." And we got the
rabbit out of the bag,

hadn't seen it for years. Fiona
wound it up with great excitement,

and it did absolutely nothing.

Major anti-cl*max.

Steve's going to need help
with this item.

Amanda, Julie...

Soft toy restorers
Julie and Amanda are used to dealing

with weird and wonderful toys.

We've been itching to come and have
a look. We thought you'd never ask.

So, what do you think of this?

Beautiful. Have you ever seen
anything like this before?

No, we've heard of them but we've
never actually seen them.

This looks in quite good condition.

Amazing. What's this fur?

Is it real fur? Yes.

Probably rabbit. Oh, really?

It's probably rabbit, yeah.

This is going to be a very
interesting job.

And I can't wait to get it going.

Thank you very much.

Thank you. Bye.

Bye-bye now. Thank you.

This is made of cardboard, look.

That's amazing. Yeah.

And I think, look... Is it two
parts? It is in two parts.

So, this probably needs stripping
off so that we can get this part off

so I can get to the mechanism.

OK. I think that's the way it was
constructed.

OK. With dozens of cabbage leaves
to unpick

before Steve can sort out
the rabbit's clockwork mechanism,

Amanda and Julie set to work.

There's no easy way around this.

We're just going to have to sit
and gently, gently pick.

Yeah, OK. And hopefully by the time
we finish,

it's going to look more like
a cabbage and less like a sprout.

Yes. OK.

The rabbit was a creation of the
renowned French toymaker

Roullet & Decamps,

dating back to the 1890s.

Extremely rare
and highly collectable,

these delicate creatures
are almost extinct.

So, Amanda and Julie are going to
have to take great care

with this one.

STEAM HISSES

Meanwhile, Will is working on the
antique treasure chest,

starting with the legs,
which are riddled with woodworm.

Woodworm are absolute pests.

I could glue this back on,
however, I mean,

it's really pointless gluing a
piece of sponge

back onto solid wood.
It's never going to stay on there.

It's going to end up
breaking off again.

So what I might do is chop that
off there and just replace anything

that's completely broken
and completely chewed up.

So, the next thing I need to do

is to make a template, and I'm going
to use this leg over here...

..to start mapping it out.

So, I'm really pleased with that.

That is a pretty decent fit.

I'm going to get some glue in there,
tape it up.

I've got one more leg to do.

So, only halfway through my journey.

Next to arrive at the workshop
is Paul Entwistle,

clutching a tarnished treasure,

a job for metalwork conservator
Matthew Boultwood.

Hello. Hello.

I'm Steve. Hi, how do you do?

I'm Paul. Hello, Paul.

I'm Matthew.
Matthew, nice to see you.

Right, so what have we got?

Well, I've got here...

..a Household Cavalry helmet...

..that belonged to, I believe,
my great-grandfather.

OK, and what sort of age is that?

My great-grandfather enlisted
in 1866, so 150 years...

Gosh! ..ago.

In actual fact, the family military
history goes back before the helmet.

And, in actual fact, I'm the first
of five generations

that hasn't had a job
in the military. But, you know,

this being part of the family
history is really, really important.

This is quite a mammoth task,
isn't it?

There's quite a lot of work to do
in this one.

This is going to be an interesting
object because the process

will reveal more information. OK.

And we'll all be learning as we go
as to what kind of finish we can

achieve on it but it will definitely
look better than this.

It will be lovely to see it bright
and shiny as it was when it was worn

and I'm sure worn proudly.

And it will take pride of place at
home. And be handed down

to my son and hopefully
future generations.

Thank you very much for bringing it
in. That's lovely,

thank you very much. Smashing.
That's great. Bye-bye.

Gosh. That's a big job.

Yes.

Paul's great-grandfather was an
officer in the Lifeguards,

one of the oldest regiments
in the British Army.

Part of the Household Cavalry,

they've been protecting the
sovereign for over three centuries.

Yes!

To have any chance of doing
this piece justice,

first Matt's going to have to strip
it down completely.

And there we go. Now you can start
to see

what the original surface
would have been like.

We're starting to get
some of the silver,

some of the original colouring.

This is a beautiful thing.

Will is making a start on recreating
the decorative scroll

on top of the treasure chest.

He's got to transform this solid,
square piece of wood

into an elegant curve.

So now that I've got
my centre point,

I'm going to put the wood
in the lathe

and slowly start turning that shape
that I need for the top.

So, I'm slowly just taking
off those...

..sharp edges.

So, as you can see,
the more that I take off,

the more the chisel is hitting
those high edges...

..and the wood is becoming
more cylindrical.

Yeah, that's absolutely perfect.

So, I've previously measured the
width of the scroll on top of the

treasure chest,
with these callipers.

And I'm using these now to make sure
that I'm not taking off more wood

than I need to.

Will runs a hole through the
cylinder using a pillar drill.

Then carefully cuts away one edge to
meet the centre.

Sanding gives the new scroll
a perfect finish.

I'm really happy with that.

That isn't actually too far off,
is it?

Across the workshop, Steve's
endeavouring to remove the clockwork

toy rabbit from its cabbage home.

Now the real challenge
is about to begin,

to bring this 120-year-old bunny
back to life.

So, how are you getting on with
Fiona's rabbit, Steve?

Yeah, good. What I'm doing is I'm
just going to remove this part

of the shell. Yeah. So I can get to
the mechanism.

There we go. And then we've got all
the mechanism in there.

Oh, wow!

So, what's next, then, Steve?

I've just got to suss out exactly
how it works and then why it's not

working. And also
the music box as well.

I've got to make that work.
So just a few bits.

Just a few bits, yeah. OK.

But before Steve can start
on the clockwork,

there's another job for
Amanda and Julie.

I can't get to the mechanism
because the fur's on.

OK. I know what he's going to ask.

Can you de-fur it?

Yeah...

Skin it! Skin the rabbit.

Oh, mate. OK. Is that all right?
There's no way I can work on it

until... We'll do our best.

Amanda and Julie's job is
complicated by the network of

strings attached to the mechanism.

So, if I can just grab a bit of fur
there on that side.

I think when Steve said
could we get the fur off,

I didn't realise there was going to
be all this going on underneath.

No.

That looks fantastic. Well done.

After taking his item apart, Matt
has made a start on restoration.

The Lifeguard's helmet had been
neglected for decades.

And, as a result,
it's extremely tarnished.

How are you getting on with it?

Having a lovely time. I've started
doing some of the trial cleanings

and it's definitely coming up
as a brass.

There's quite a heavy sort of
corrosion on there.

There is, isn't there? I don't know
whether you want to use a clock

cleaning fluid that I've got.

It's for cleaning up brass,
steel and what have you,

but it will bring out
the brass bright.

Because I think that's several days'
work, doing that.

Yeah, this is a new process.
That would be really good. OK.

Good.

With Steve overseeing
Operation Clean-up,

Matt can turn his attention to
another part of the helmet

that's in dire need
of some grooming.

This is supposed to be
a white horsehair plume...

Oh, wow! ..that comes out of the top
of this helmet.

Yeah. It wasn't looked after very
well and I'm quite concerned

that if we wash it, we're going to
lose quite a lot of it.

OK. I think if we're going to try
and clean it,

let's go with something
like a baby shampoo.

It was designed for hair.
Yes. It's very mild.

Let's see if we can get it
a bit cleaner.

So, if we just do it
very carefully...

Certainly wouldn't want to wring it
and squeeze it.

Let's just sort of gently
agitate it, really.

It's very fragile. Leave it with me.

I'll carry on with it. Thank you.

That's great. Thank you very much.
Bye. Bye.

Matt can now give the grimiest
part his full attention -

the top section of the helmet.

The decades in damp storage have
left it smothered with green rust.

Takes quite a lot of effort
and it's quite time-consuming.

But I can see in the oil slightly
more of that green coming off.

As the dirty patina clears, it
slowly reveals the metal beneath.

Once you cut through the green...

..we've actually got a silver
service underneath here.

Just a long process of cleaning now.

Back inside The Repair Shop,

Will is nearing the end of his
treasure chest renovation.

He's working his way through the
myriad of smaller jobs,

like fixing the tiny drawers,

before returning to the scroll
on top of the chest.

The last thing I need to do is to
colour-match to match the other side

and I've been putting it off because
I'm slightly dubious

whether I can get
the same colour match.

But, yeah, I'm about
to give it a go.

This black going on here now
is starting to come together.

It's only one thin coat
of polish now.

It definitely needs a few more to
get that nice, smooth, even finish.

And I can almost see
the finish line.

Amelia had brought her treasure
chest to The Repair Shop,

as the years had left it in
a rather sad condition.

With over 100 years' worth of family
treasures held in the chest,

Amelia's hoping Will has secured
its future for generations to come.

Hi, Will.

Hi, Amelia.

Lovely to see you again. Good to see
you again.

Oh, what...?

It's like Christmas.

I'm hoping.

Well, shall we have a look
and see if it's in a better place?

Don't... Yeah?

WHISPERS: Oh...

Thanks.

That's terrific.

Wow! You really have worked magic,
haven't you?

Oh!

That's amazing. Oh,
my hands are shaking.

That's ridiculous.

Will, that's amazing,
thank you so much.

You've done... That's just terrific.

Thank you so much.

It was a real pleasure to work on,
actually.

Oh, dear. I didn't think
it would do this to me.

SHE EXHALES DEEPLY

Thank you. Really, really thank you.

It's a pleasure. Bless you.

Thank you for coming down.
It's over to you.

Don't drop it. Don't drop it!
Don't drop it.

Cheers. Thanks a lot, Amelia. Bye.

I know that treasure chest
meant a lot to my granny.

She entrusted it to me, and to be
able to get it back in one bit,

to be able to hand on
the treasure chest is just amazing.

And I didn't realise it would
hit me quite in that way.

Wonderful surprise. Fantastic.

Over on Steve's workbench,

he's grappling with a vintage toy
rabbit that hasn't so much

as twitched for years.

The actual bottom jaw doesn't work
at the moment

so, I'm just going to...

..hopefully, pop out the unit.

I feel like a veterinary surgeon
doing this.

All right, that's good.

That came out very easily.

You see, this is the string that
actually operates the bottom jaw.

The spring here that's supposed to
bring the jaw back to closed

is absolutely rotten.

As well as the metal bar that goes
through it is very, very rusty.

I just need to pop a
new bar on there

and make a new spring up for it.

There we go.

Just need to pop that down in there.

And this piece of brass will go
through the spring...

..like so. That spring
is working fine now.

While Steve fine-tunes
the clockwork mechanism,

Amanda and Julie are bringing life
back to the dead cabbage leaves.

I'm really pleased with how the form
of the crinkles

is kind of coming back. Yeah. Each
little pleat by hand.

I think the main thing is that when
we do put it all back together

again, they will have
a sort of perky look.

Yeah. When we come to do the
main leaves,

that we might have to do as we're
reassembling it. Yeah.

How are we doing? How are you
getting on

with my little furry friend, then?
Look at this.

MECHANISM PLAYS MUSIC

You're a clever bunny, ain't you?

So, this little lever here...

Right. ..that's opening and shutting
the mouth.

OK. What's this doing?

Is that the head? That's the head,
yeah. OK. And it comes up,

has a good look around,
then goes up and it starts eating

and then goes down again.

All right. So, where's
the head, though?

I've got it here. OK.

It's got no ears, though.

Do that again. You took your
finger away then.

I don't want it biting me, do I?

OK. So there's two strings.

One for the ears. Yeah.

And one for the mouth.

All right. So, as soon as I
attach this to there, like that,

then Julie and Amanda can then
re-fur him... Right.

..and put the ears on.

And then they can rebuild
the cabbage.

OK. And then it's done.

Well done. I'm happy with that.

It's been all hands on deck

in the restoration
of the Lifeguard's helmet.

I mean, look at that water.

We've definitely taken some
dirt out of it.

But with this military heirloom
still looking dull and tarnished,

there's hours of cleaning and
polishing left

to restore it to its full
dress parade condition.

Hoping to see his heirloom looking
as it would have

when his great-grandfather wore it,
owner Paul has returned.

Hi, Paul. Hi, how are you?

Yeah, nice to see you. Nice to see
you again. Lovely to see you.

OK. Are you looking forward to this?

Very much so. Yeah.

Are you ready? Yes.

Wow!

That's not the same helmet!

That...

I don't know what to say.
That's magnificent!

That's exactly as it would have
been 150 years ago.

I'm dumbstruck.

I might try and wear it.

When was the last time it was on
display like this?

Probably on Horse Guards Parade.

Oh, right.

Do you know, I can't thank you guys
enough.

This is going to take me some time
to...

..to get over this. Well...

Yeah...

Can I?

Yeah.

There was sort of decades of polish
and dust

and muck in the lettering,
obscuring it all.

I suppose it would have been cleaned
by the man himself.

Oh, absolutely, yes...
Would have had to have been cleaned.

Couldn't have gone on parade with a
dirty helmet. ..meticulously.

Yes.

I wish my father was alive
to see this.

Amazing. Thank you very much.

HE EXHALES

The 19th-century toy rabbit
is nearing completion.

Have you finished it?

Just literally... Just about.

..just finishing it off.

That's looking absolutely fantastic.

Well done. And it actually looks
like a cabbage now.

Not a sprout.

THEY LAUGH

MUSIC BOX PLAYS

That gets me.

It's great, isn't it?
It is working really well, isn't it?

Really, really well.
Great team effort.

Yeah, definitely teamwork.

And the cabbage is fantastic.

I'm really impressed.

Really, really impressed. Thank you.
We're really pleased.

It's time for this rare and
extremely collectable bunny

to be sent back home
to owners Fiona and Jeanette.

When they discovered
the rabbit six years ago,

they threw a party that went flat
when he wouldn't come out to play.

Today, they're having a second

and, hopefully, more successful
party in his honour.

We'd like to share our repaired
bunny with my granddaughter, Freya.

So, she's never seen
the bunny working.

And we can barely remember it.

So, we're hoping that our bunny

sandwiches and our bunny cakes are
going to help the bunny work.

With a bit of luck!

Looking forward to seeing
the fruits of Steve,

Julie and Amanda's labours is
Jeanette's granddaughter, Freya.

Oh! Wow!

He does look fluffier.

Now, when you saw this last time,
it didn't do anything.

Shall we see what happens?

Are you feeling excited?

Well done.
Oh, wow!

Look at that!

Look what it's doing!

Whoa! Shot back in really quickly.

That's really clever, isn't it?

Oh, he's having a look at you.

How lovely that, after all these
years, he's back working again.

He's funny. He's funny?

He is funny, isn't he?

I think he's just brilliant.

That was amazing.

I was really impressed
that that worked.

I was a bit worried that, you know,
something might happen

and we'd get a rabbit back
that was silent.

But it was brilliant. Wound it up
and...

Really amazing. I never thought
we'd get it working again.

So, it's absolutely amazing
to have it back working.

It's excellent. And to see the look
on Freya's face.

It's wonderful to think that her
great-great-grandchildren

will be able to play with it.
Yeah. And enjoy it.

Join us next time as more items
receive the Repair Shop treatment...

There's bits missing, broken...
..and get a new lease of life.

Oh, wow! Look, it's moving.