03x14 - Royal Doulton Figurine WWI Soldier

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to the Repair Shop,

where cherished family heirlooms
are brought back to life.

This is the workshop of dreams.

Home to a furniture restorer
Jay Blades.

Nowadays, everybody spends a fortune
on stuff that, 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... On board, man!
..and rejuvenate...

..treasured possessions

and irreplaceable pieces
of family history...

Wow! She's fantastic!

..bringing both the objects...

Oh! This is what I remember.

..and the memories that they hold...

Wow!

..back to life.

Oh, my God!

In the Repair Shop today,

the future
of a 100-year-old figurine

is in Kirsten's hands.

Oh, golly!

So it's actually come away.

While a Victorian keepsake
challenges silversmith Brenton.

OK, so that's now not coming off.
At the moment,

there's no way that's coming
out without breaking it.

But first, a family heirloom
in need of attention.

Hello. How we doing? Hello.

You all right? Fine, thank you.
Oh, there's three of you! Yep.

That's cool.

Sisters Anne, Jill and Mary

are here with something
that holds precious memories.

So you brought along a clock.

You're going to need
my main man Steve.

If you don't mind helping us out.
It's a little one, though, isn't it?

Hello. What have we got here, then?
Hello, Steve.

Horologist Steve Fletcher is the
go-to guy for anything that ticks.

This is a clock
our grandfather made.

He was a cabinet-maker

for the West Yorkshire police.
Oh, right, OK.

And when he passed, we inherited it.

And I've had it - not working -
in my house for

at least 40 years. All right.

You know what, I thought,
because there's three of you,

you've split it up.

And it's a bit... It's not right.

When was the last time
you can remember this working?

I can't remember it working, really.

I've asked my mum,

and she can't remember it working,
so well over 50 years.

Oh, gosh! Right, OK. Blimey. Yeah.

And your dad made this, then?

SISTERS: Our grandfather.

You know, with him actually making
it, it sort of brings back memories.

I think we've got very fond memories
of our paternal grandfather,

who was a wonderful man, you know,
spent a lot of time with us.

He was such a kind, gentle man.

You know, we haven't got a lot...
No, we haven't got much

to remind us of him.
So it would be wonderful.

It really would.

This is...this is one of the big
things that we've got left of him.

So this clock will remind you
of your grandfather.

SISTERS: Oh, absolutely.
Yes, it will, yeah.

Fantastic.

Gosh, that is...

Dusty.

I can see that hasn't been working
for years.

This is a big job.
Is it? SISTERS: Aw!

How on earth did it get so broken
like this?

It did take a bit of a tumble
down the stairs at one point.

Oh, did it?! Yeah.

It's fallen down the stairs -
that would explain it, then.

THEY LAUGH

And did you knock it over?

My son did when he was little,

doing Hickory Dickory Dock,

and we caught him swinging it,
so...he dropped it... Really? Yeah.

..when we shouted. It did come apart
from the main body of it.

Yeah. Is your son still feeling
guilty about it? Yeah,

we remind him constantly.

Yeah, he's 30 now.

I can see that it's been made
really well.

Yeah? And...
What sort of clock do you call it?

A grandmother clock.

So it's probably called
a granddaughter clock.

Granddaughter clock? Yeah,
cos it's that much shorter.

They're all quite loose terms.

They're all called
long-case clocks, really.

But this one would be
a granddaughter clock
cos it's so short.

Oh, that's lovely to say I've ended
up with it, really, isn't it?

Cos I'm his granddaughter.

Yeah, that's a bit of a project.
All right.

So leave it with us, ladies,
and we'll get back to you.

SISTERS: Thank you.

That is quite a lot, though,
isn't it?

That... That's a lot, a lot,
a lot of work.

I'm just a bit upset that it's got
in such bad condition, really,

cos that's one of the memories
we've got of our grandfather.

We'd just like to retain it and get
it back to how it was.

Anything that we can keep after
50, 60 years that he made,

it'll be treasured
in the family forever.

I tell you what, every time I glance
at this, there's more work.

There's more!
When I hear you say that,

I know there's a lot
of bits missing.

But you didn't make it
too bad for them.

It really is a big job.

There's bits missing, broken,

the glass is missing,
the bezel's bent.

And this is before I've even taken
the mechanism apart, so

goodness knows what I'll find,
but all very interesting, really.

All right. Well, we've got a lot
of work, can't hang about here.

Yeah, well, it's a good job. Let's
get it on to your bench, then. OK.

This clock hasn't seen the light
of day for decades.

The mechanism is absolutely filthy.

When it fell down the stairs,
it absolutely...

..went with quite a bash
because it has broken parts.

I can see here, this clock needed
an overhaul before it fell

down the stairs.

Because you can tell in the holes,
they're absolutely black.

So I've got to give it
a full overhaul, basically,

and do all the repair work,

and I don't know
what I'm going to find yet.

Cor, that's tight.

I'll have to try
another screwdriver.

Love using this screwdriver.

It feels great.

It belonged to my grandfather.

And it just works.
It's a ratchet screwdriver.

And it's worked for 80, 100 years.

It's just lovely.

And my grandfather used it,
so I love that.

So these pallets are the part
of the clock that actually ticks.

You've got these pallets here,

which, on this clock,
they're made

of semiprecious stones like rubies.

So in turn, these pallets go
in between the teeth

of the escape wheel,

which does the tick-tock, tick-tock,

and they're slightly, slightly...

..chipped on one edge, but I think
probably the working part

of the escape wheel
should be OK on it.

So far, I've found parts broken
that I need to repair

and wear as well. So I've got to
strip the whole movement down

to see just how bad the clock is.

The next customer to arrive
at the Repair Shop

is Martin Wedgwood,
from Staffordshire.

Hi, you must be Martin.

Hello. Yes. I'm Kirsten.

He's got a prized item for ceramics
conservator Kirsten Ramsay.

Right, what have you got?

We have a First World w*r soldier...

..that was made by Royal Doulton...

Ah! Oh!

..in 1919 to commemorate the end...

..of the First World w*r.

Goodness me! I've...I've actually
never seen one of these.

I've never seen another one.

Oh, really? OK. That's Blighty.

As you can see, it's across
the bottom. Oh, yes, I see.

Yeah, absolutely.

And they're not very common.
Unusual, really unusual.

What can you tell me
about this piece, then?

Well, my grandfather
was Harry Bentley.

He was a master thrower
at Doulton's, Royal Doulton.

Oh, really? We understand he was
the last master thrower that threw

on the production line
at Doulton. Oh, really?

Before they went over
to fully moulded cups

and, you know, ware.

He had hook thumbs. Oh, did he?
Because, you know, he started

when he was 15. Right. And worked
right the way through

till he retired,
and continuous pressure on the clay,

and his thumbs hooked round.
His sort of thumbs became

tools, almost. Yeah, right,
to form the clay. Goodness me.

He had odd things in the house -

some cups and saucers
that he'd made himself

and things like that. Right.
And this.

And as a young lad,

it was...that was fascinating
to look at it and touch it

and see it there, in the window.
Yeah.

So you actually touched it, did you?
Oh, yeah.

Well, I know...

I wasn't supposed to, really,
not allowed to do,

but we'd sneak in there,
myself and my brother,

and go through the cupboards
and things, you know, as you did.

My mother,

when my grandfather died,
she knew I appreciated it. Yes.

And so when... She passed it on
to me rather than kept it herself.

It's quite unusual, isn't it?
It is, it is.

It's very, very shiny.
Very glossy. Yeah.

I see underneath it says Titanian.

Titanian, as opposed
to the metal titanium.

Yes. Yeah, yeah.

It's Titanian ware. Right.
Which is...quite rare.

I don't think I've worked on
this type of glaze before, actually.

It is unusual, it is.

So I'm just... Obviously, there must
be something...

If you look at it his head.
Ah, yeah.

I am seeing it in the light.

His head's been off, yeah.

Apparently, my grandmother,
some time in the '60s,

when she was dusting, managed
to knock it over and the head came

off, and she stuck it on, as you
can see, not particularly well.

Oh. And there's a little chip
on the cap... Yes.

..where it probably hit
the hearth or something

on the way down.

It looks like perhaps it's a sort
of animal glue or something.

I mean, she used... One of the
things she used was egg white.

Oh, really?
Historically, I remember,

you know, that being used
to stick things on.

Oh, OK! So it could be that,
but I'm only guessing.

I mean, I've seen things stuck
together with chewing gum

and all sorts,

but never egg white.

So, hopefully,
it'll come off quite easily.

It'll be interesting to mimic
this glaze.

Might be slightly tricky.
A challenge. I'll do my best. Yes!

Well, if you'd like to leave it
with me... I would indeed, yes.

..and I'll be in touch. Super.
Thank you very much.

Thank you. See you again soon. OK.

The soldier brings back
happy memories of my grandma

and my grandad.

We were very close to them,
myself and my brother.

I've never actually remembered
seeing him intact,

you know, cos my grandma broke him
in the '60s when I was a wee lad.

And, yeah, it'll be nice to see him

fully repaired and resplendent
in his...in his uniform.

This is a really interesting piece.

In 25 years, I've not worked
on a piece of Titanian ware.

And I've certainly not knowingly
worked on anything that was stuck

together with egg white.

Probably the most challenging thing
is going to be

mimicking this glaze.

It's incredibly shiny and glossy,

so that might prove to be
quite tricky. We'll find out.

Clockmaker Steve is in full swing.

He's been cleaning
all the individual parts

of the granddaughter clock,
and he's now ready to begin repairs.

Right, I've got the bezel all
ready to solder now.

What I've done is wired it up.

I've put these five bricks around
to hold it steady.

And hopefully, it's going to stay
still and I'll be able to...

..solder it OK.

So they used silver solder,
which melts at a far lower

temperature and runs into
the brass joint.

The solder's run beautifully.

Before he moves on
to fixing the mechanism,

Steve needs to get renovations
on the wooden case up and running.

It's the perfect job
for furniture restorer Will Kirk.

Will, I need your help.

More work for me? Yep.

Absolutely. I was about to sharpen
my chisel, Steve.

Well, you'll have to do this
instead. Right, what is it?

This is a granddaughter clock.

This goes on top like that.
Ah, I see.

And then the mechanism
goes in there, obviously.

You have the mechanism.

I do have the mechanism. OK.
Quite an easy job for you.

It looks easy. I don't want
to say easy yet

because I know with you,
you always give me these "easy" jobs

and they end up turning into
an absolute nightmare. Yeah.

Well, it looks like it's broken
into just the two pieces.

Yeah. Done it. Finished. Done!
Oh, thank you.

THEY LAUGH

Probably could do
with a good polish as well.

Half an hour?
Half an hour... Maybe even less.

Don't hold me to it,
but I will let you know

when it's ready. And counting.
And counting.

There's some serious damage
to the top of this clock.

Steve's asked me to glue it back on.

The only problem is
I'm not sure if

it's through heat or...

..a change in temperature,

but the top of this
seems slightly twisted.

I turned this around
and I realised that this flat

panel on the side is quite loose.

So maybe if I glue that back on

and clamp it back in,

then the top should sit
a lot better.

One little trick with using a clamp

is I usually get some wood
between the surface

that you're clamping

and the bottom of the clamp
because what you don't want to do

is clamp that on there,

tighten it up, cos then you're left
with a ring mark.

That prevents any further damage.

Next, Will seals the join
with wood filler.

Then takes the clock case outside
where the natural light helps him

to perfectly match colours
and paint over the fill,

seamlessly concealing the repair.

The thing with wood,
it's not always just a flat colour,

like a flat brown or anything.

It actually has sort of layers
and different depths

to it, so it's quite tricky
to build up that colour

to make it look like wood

rather than just painted-on brown.

Yeah, that's looking really good.

Steve, meanwhile, is focusing
on all the worn components

in the clock mechanism.

After decades of use, the part that
regulates the speed of the strike

has become very loose.

The bearing that it goes in -

you can see it's just flopping
around in there.

That's because the hole
has really worn far too big.

So basically I've got to pop
a tiny little bush in.

A bush is a minute ring of metal
that closes up any holes

that have worn too large.

So that bush is in there.

Then I need to open up the hole.

There's a very, very small hole -
probably about 0.15 of a millimetre.

So I'm using these little
needle-like things.

It's a five-sided tapered
cutting tool

that we use for opening up holes.

This one is probably as fine
as a hair or an acupuncture needle.

You just keep twisting it round

until you get to a point where...

it goes in. That's better.

TICKING

I've done all the bushing
to the clock now.

So I now just need to reassemble
the whole clock.

Steve, for you.

So the top is connected
to the bottom.

And there were a few cracks
that I had to fill and...

Oh, well done. ..blend in.
That's brilliant. Perfect.

Happy? Get it finished now.
Get it finished. Well done.

Get it done. It's about time!

The next customer to the Repair
Shop is Jackie Ellis.

She has a much-loved possession
that needs the attention

of silversmith Brenton West.

Hello. Hello. How are you doing?
Very good, thank you.

Hi. Brenton. Hello. Hi, Jackie.
Pleased to meet you.

So what have you
got in there for us?

I've got my granny's
magnifying glass.

Here we are.

And be careful because it's lethal.

It's very sharp, is it? OK.

So tell me a bit about this, then.

Well, it belonged to my granny
and my childhood memory of it

is that she used to read the
Sporting Life through it.

So she was into horses, then?

She had three bets a day.

One was based on breeding,
one was based on form

and the other was what she called
her whimsy bet.

So if something was running called
Ginger Nut, she would back it.

I can't think why!

So then she would write
the three bets

on the back of a f*g packet... Yeah.

..they would be given to me
and I would run to the local

tobacconists and then I think he
probably phoned the bets through,

but we didn't have a phone. Right.
OK.

I mean, you know, we're back
in ancient history now. Yeah!

One day I came back and it
had been pouring with rain

and I was absolutely
soaked and I said,

"Granny, why don't you just go to
the bookies in the high street?"

She looked at me as if I was mad.

She said, "Darling, I wouldn't be
seen dead in a betting shop!"

So send you, then! Yeah, yeah!

But she engendered in me
a great love of racing,

which is still a big part
of my life.

Did she ever win, though?
Yes, she did.

She very rarely
ended a week out of pocket.

She was good. She was good.

So this is a lucky magnifying
glass, then?

I think so. And it looks
like it's been well loved.

Yeah, I don't know its history
at all.

I've often wondered if it was French

because she used to go to the
casinos on the south of France.

She liked gambling, then?
Oh, yeah, she did!

She liked gin, too. OK!

But she died in 1986,
so I inherited it then.

And was it broken when you got it?

I pretty much remember it being
broken all the time,

because if I picked it up
she would say, "Be careful!"

So she would use it like this?
It was broken? Oh, yeah.

Yeah? Oh, she was reckless!

Because that's really dangerous.
It is. Yeah.

What they used to do when they made
silver objects

is to make it out of
very, very thin silver

and then fill it with pitch...
Oh!

..which gave it a weight
and a strength.

And what happens is if it gets
knocked and the pitch breaks
inside,

this silver, as you can see,
is very, very thin... Thin, yeah.

..and it then loses its strength.

So cutlery handles
are made the same way.

Are you talking pitch as in tar?

As in tar, yes. Gosh.

Or as in sap from a tree,
it depends what sort of pitch it is.

But it's either tar from a road,
without the stones!

Without the stones!

Or pitch that comes out of a pine
tree. Oh, pitch pine. Yeah.

I do think that the handle had
actually broken

but it just appears to have
come apart.

When I look closely at it,
the component parts are all there,

they're just in the wrong place.

Has it ever been right off, or not?
No, not that I know of.

We can have a look at that and see
if we can make that

a bit better for you.
That'd be fantastic.

Thank you, Jackie.
Thank you very much indeed.

Thanks. Nice to meet you
and we'll see you later.

Thank you. See you later.
You take care.

I grew up with
it there the whole time

because I spent a great deal
of time with Granny

because my dad was ill
for quite a bit of my childhood

and Mum was either hospital
visiting or working,

so I would be parked with Granny,

and the magnifying glass
was there every day

because every day
she placed her bets.

Whenever I look at it,
it takes me back to childhood.

And to be able to actually handle it
and use it again would be wonderful.

How are you going to tackle
that one? Right...

Remember, I do have plasters.

That's good, we'll need the
plasters.

You shouldn't need the plasters.
If I'm careful, I'll be all right.

I've got to get the two parts of the
handle off the glass... Right.

..I've got to clean up all
these sharp edges,

I've then got to get the pitch out
of it... Pitch, right, yeah.

..which is the other stuff
that's keeping this stiff.

I've then got to establish
what the metal is.

I believe it to be silver,
although if it's brass

with silver plating on it,

you can't heat that up without
re-plating it,

because it'll burn all the plating
off. Right.

So I need to establish that
it's solid silver as well.

The best way to find out
if an object is silver

is to search for a hallmark -

tiny imprints of numbers,
letters and images in the metal

that, to the trained eye,
tells a story.

I have seen a small mark on here

so I'm just going to have
a quick look

and see if I can establish
whether it's silver or not.

And I can see a lion,
which is a good sign,

and I can see an anchor.

So the anchor signifies
it's from Birmingham

and the lion says
it's sterling silver.

There's a date letter,
which I would have to look up,

and there's a maker's name,
which again, I can look up.

The point of the hallmark is that
it's a tested government quality.

So this is 925 parts per thousand
silver guaranteed.

If it wasn't to that standard,
they wouldn't hallmark it.

I've looked on the internet and I've
established that this is made by

Adie & Lovekin of Frederick Street
in Birmingham.

The date letter on this
item is a "T", which is 1894.

So we know Birmingham,
Adie & Lovekin, sterling silver,

1894.

Now that he's ascertained the
age of the magnifying glass

and what it's made of, Brenton can
forge ahead with the restoration.

So to repair this little
area around here,

I've got to get this handle off
here.

So I'm just going to pull
and see what happens.

It's quite loose, so I feel it'll
come off quite easily.

So that is really, really on there.

OK, so that's now not coming off.

Just how to prise
this delicate object apart

is going to require some
careful investigation.

Kirsten is restoring a limited
edition figurine,

created to commemorate the end of
the First World w*r.

She needs to reverse the previous
60-year-old repair,

allegedly fixed with egg white.

Blighty is going to have
to lose his hand.

I'm just going to start off
with a little bit of water

and see if that's going
to soften whatever it is.

What we tend to do is actually
work our way up through

the various chemicals to see
which one will soften the adhesive,

and you always start with water,
pretty much.

Nope, that doesn't seem
to be softening it at all.

I'm actually going try acetone
and see if that will soften it.

I'm going to just have
a little go now

and see if that's softened
it at all.

Unfortunately, the acetone
doesn't really seem to be

having much effect on this.

Whatever it is, it's not budging
so I'm going to have to move

on to some paint stripper

and hopefully that will start to
dissolve the adhesive.

So once I've applied the stripper,

I cover the whole piece
in some tinfoil

and this actually just sort of
contains some of the fumes

and it also keeps the active
ingredient working on the area

that I want it to work on.

Also, if the head were just to
tumble off,

if there was some sort of
marvellous, you know,

instant, miraculous action,

it would kind of hold
it safely as well.

So I'm just going to pop it there

and leave it for probably
about an hour or so.

Steve, meanwhile, has almost
finished reconditioning

the granddaughter clock

built by a beloved grandad
over 50 years ago.

This has been quite
a nice job to do, actually.

It was in a heck of a state.

You wouldn't recognise it now
from how it looked before.

We're ready to pop
it into the case now.

The mechanism, bezel, dial and case
may be reunited again,

but will the clock start running?

Just put the pendulum in and...

A nice even tick.

That's good.

Sisters Anne, Jill and Mary
were in desperate need of help

with their grandfather's clock,

which had been broken into three
parts and hadn't ticked for decades.

We can't ever remember
it as working order,

it's just been there in
our grandfather's home,

so we're very excited.

To think that it could be chiming or
it could have a pendulum,

it's just...

I can't quite believe what
it's going to be like at all.

Hello. Hi, Steve.
Nice to see you again.

How are you? Come and have a look.
ALL: Oh!

Exciting! So have you been
looking forward to this moment?

Oh, we have, yes.
Yes, absolutely.

Do you remember how it looked
before you brought it along?

In pieces.

So it is quite embarrassing to bring
it in to you

because it was just...
The head fell off.

The head came off, didn't it?

There were bits missing
and it was all black and...

It was embarrassing to think that
we thought anybody could make...

could actually
do anything with it.

Do you know what?
It was absolutely black.

I mean, really the colour black.
It was so dirty.

We thought you were going to stay
that you wouldn't be able

to mend it. I won't hold
you in suspense any longer.

THEY GASP

Oh, wow! Oh, it's beautiful.

CLOCK CHIMES

Did you hear it striking?
Yeah! Absolutely. We did.

What a marvellous job.
Look, it's moving. Yeah.

Oh, that's beautiful.
That is unbelievable.

It's like a different clock,
isn't it?

Did you have to completely
start from scratch?

I've stripped it completely down
to every little tiny piece.

I've repaired the movement,
there was lot, a lot of wear,

and replaced some of the parts.

One of the ruby jewels was missing
so I popped a new one of those in.

I didn't notice those little jewels
in the top there, did you? No.

It's amazing.

So you'll see Will has done the most
amazing job of the case as well.

You must've spent hours
doing this. I did.

I mean, it's absolutely brilliant.

It's an absolute family heirloom.

It's definitely going to be
something that's passed on

to future generations now.

And it's got an even bigger
story to it now. No, it has, yeah.

Because now it's been
fixed and sort of brought back

from the dead almost. Absolutely.
It has.

Where is it going
to go in your house?

Well, before it was in the
dining room in the corner,

but I think I'll have
it in the lounge

in a more prominent place now.

Can you make a promise to me that
you don't put it on the stairs?

No! No, it's not...

No, it's not going anywhere
near any stairs! No.

And her son's not going anywhere
near it either. No, he's not.

It's been a pleasure to do.
Thank you very much.

It brings back real memories
of Grandad

because he was such a lovely man,
and he was a very clever man.

We have pieces of furniture in the
house that have been made by him,

but the clock was something special.

It is, it's amazing. It'll take
pride of place in the house

and it's the talking point
of the family.

Everybody will be coming
round to have a good look at it.

Ceramics conservator Kirsten
is hoping the paint stripper

has worked its magic on Blighty.

Let's have a look. Oh, golly.

So it's actually come away,
which is fantastic.

I don't think this can possibly
be egg white.

It looks too thick and too stringy
for that.

But anyway, I can now clean this off
and start the next stage.

How's the little soldier doing?

Not you, him - Blighty.
Was it egg white?

I definitely don't think it
was egg white. Are you sure?

Yeah, the stuff that I kind
of excavated out of there

definitely wasn't egg white.
Wasn't egg white, OK. No, no.

So this is just like glue,
basically? So...

But you're not going to call it
glue, it's an adhesive.

It's an adhesive, yes. OK.

It's a conservation grade epoxy
that's specially made

for ceramics, basically. OK.

And it's got really good
non-yellowing qualities.

It adheres really well,
but it's also reversible.

Why do you want it to be reversible?

You want it to stick,
though, don't you?

So you never want the
adhesive that you use

to actually be harder than
the object that you're sticking.

If people in the future want
to take this piece apart

and, you know, redo it...

Because perhaps, you know, with
time, the repair breaks down. OK.

..then you can
do that quite easily.

So they won't cause any more damage
by taking it apart. Exactly.

But if it was stronger,
then it could just rip it all apart.

Exactly, yeah. It's a real problem
when I come across that.

I'm just going to pop
his head back on.

So your timing is quite
good, actually.

Yeah, I know. I might need a finger.

Oh, let me get my finger ready.
I might be all right, actually.

Seriously?! I've just got
my finger ready

and I'm not going to be able
to use it.

Do you know what, Jay? I'm so used
to just doing this on my own.

So my finger is redundant?
Well...

That's not very fair, is it?
Never say never.

Let's see, it might just tumble off.

Well, I hope it does!

Because this finger
was really primed. Next time.

Thank you. Thanks for offering.
Yeah.

Kirsten might be conquering
her repair,

but silversmith Brenton
is struggling.

He had hoped the 120-year-old
magnifying glass

would come apart easily,

but he's having to excavate
inside the handle

in an attempt to find out
why it's refusing to yield.

So it's not pitch inside here.

It looks like...

Actually, it's shellac, I think,

which has been used
to make this handle solid.

So I'm just slowly easing it out...

..which will then loosen this up
and I'll be able to pull it out.

It's going to be slow and laborious,
so I've just got to chip it all away

and then hopefully I'll be able
to pull this rod out.

But at the moment,
there's no way that's coming out

without breaking it.

Shellac does melt
when you heat it up,

so I'm just going to try and warm
this up a bit.

This is really hot now.

The shellac inside's all melted

and I'm just going to see
if I can get this off.

With a bit of luck...

..it'll just pull off here.

There we go. That's got that little
thing off. Brilliant.

So the melted shellac in there is
now no longer gripping on to that

and we can now set about
repairing this handle.

That's quite hard to get that apart.

I'm really pleased we got that apart
without completely breaking it.

Brenton has to make all the wafer-
thin pieces of bent and crumpled

silver lie flat enough to fit
together in one smooth handle.

We're going to try and tidy up
all of these joints

that they fit together nicely.

So I'm just cleaning
the melted shellac

ready for me to straighten this out.

OK, so now we just need
to start...

..straightening this out a bit.

As a silversmith,
you can work on all sorts of metals.

I've made wings for racing cars,

rings for people who're getting
married, so all kinds of metal.

Most metal acts the same way -
most metal bends,

most metal joins together.

It's just working out the best
way of doing each one.

Once the metal is straightened,
Brenton can fix the pieces together,

usually done by soldering.

But the magnifying glass has thrown
him yet another curveball.

This silver is so thin.

It's too thin for me
to risk soldering.

As soon as I touch
a flame against this,

I fear it may disappear
into a pool of molten silver.

It's such a long solder joint to do.

I think the best thing to do is to
glue these two things back together

when they're straightened out.

Blighty, the porcelain
British soldier,

is almost ready for action.

His head is firmly back
on his shoulders

and Kirsten has mended
his chipped cap.

Now she must emulate the unusual
Titanian ware glaze -

a special glazing technique that
uses titanium oxide

to achieve the mottled-coloured
high gloss finish.

This has got this Titanian glaze
on it.

It's got a very
sort of high shine on it,

so I'm going to have
to try and mimic that,

which...might prove tricky.

That's starting to disappear
quite nicely now.

This took me a few goes to actually

get the right
sort of combination of pigments.

Now Martin is back at the workshop,
eager to see his loyal comrade.

Blighty is a representation
of happy memories for me

of my grandfather and grandmother.

He's been in my life really
from as long as I can remember.

To see him fully repaired,
it's strange really

because, you know,
I always remember it being broken

but it was always a little bit
sad that he wasn't perfect.

But I'm sure it will
be amazing to have it back

in wonderful condition again.

Oh, Martin. Hello. Hi. Come across.

Nice to see you again.
Yeah, and you. All right?

Excited? Apprehensive.

Oh, apprehensive?
Yeah, a little bit nervous.

I've taken very good care
of Blighty. Oh, great.

So I won't keep you in
anticipation any longer.

Here it is.

Oh, it's amazing.

That's tremendous. Gosh.

And no chip on the cap.

Absolutely.
I filled that in for you.

That's amazing.

Did you discover how his head
was stuck on? What was used?

Do you know? I know you mentioned
about the egg white,

but I don't think what I took off
there was egg white.

It was actually quite rubbery
and quite sort of stringy. Yeah.

More like impact adhesive.
Yeah, absolutely.

And it was quite tough to get apart,
actually. I bet it was.

Tougher than I thought!

And you had fun mixing up the glaze?
Yeah.

It's so highly glazed,

I thought it might be quite
difficult to mimic that.

But hopefully you're happy with...
I can't tell!

I can't see anything.
Amazing.

I mean, even the chip at the cap,
at the peak of the cap, is gone.

You can't even feel where it was.

That's great, good.
Oh, it's amazing.

That's tremendous.

For just under 100 years old...

Well, hopefully it's good
to go for another 100. Brilliant.

It's fantastic. Thank you very much.
You're very welcome.

It's much appreciated. It's been an
absolute pleasure. Super.

I'm sure Grandad up in heaven
will be saying to my grandma

that's how she should have done
it in the first place. Oh!

It is amazing.

If you're happy,
I'll wrap that up for you. Please.

Oh, yes! I've just got to get it
back home in one piece!

Yeah, I know.

The repair exceeds expectations.

I expected it to be good,
but it's even better.

Very, very impressive work.

My grandfather was a master thrower,

he threw by hand
and he appreciated the craft

that went into making Blighty

and it's a lasting memory
to his skills

and the skills of the craftsman that
made the figure in the first place.

In his quest to repair
a Victorian magnifying glass,

traditional silversmith Brenton
is having to use some
non-traditional

methods to achieve the best
result possible.

I'm now epoxy gluing it back
together.

I'm going to need quite a lot of it
because I've got to replace

the shellac that I've
taken out of the handle,

and the handle's quite hollow now
and it needs something to keep it

in place, keep it strong.

So it will be full of the epoxy
rather than full of shellac.

So epoxy glue is a two-part glue

which chemically, when mixed
together,

is a really, really
hard, strong glue

and it's used for holding boats
together and all sorts of things.

It's one of the strongest glues
you can get.

And this is quite rapid one
and where it's squeezed out,

I've got to work quite hard
at this and quite quickly.

So what I've got to do is be very

careful where I put this stuff.

This is very tricky to get it
all lined up because the metal

is so thin and it will be
stuck together

and it won't come apart again.

But it's trying to get it to look
pretty as well.

I'm just trying to get the side
with the hallmark looking the best

because there's a good side
and a bad side.

Just using a bit of wire wool here
just to get the little bits

of epoxy off and then once they're
off, I'll give it a final polish.

It really has been
a long day on this.

It's been a really, really,
really tough repair

because the silver
was so torn and so thin,

and getting all the little flaps
to go back in their place

has been really tough, but I'm
pretty happy that we've made

the best of this item.

The handle's back
where it should be.

It's ready to go.
So, yeah, happy.

Owner Jackie will be equally happy
to see her grandmother's

magnifying glass and all the
fond memories it inspires.

Its once-torn and jagged
shards of metal have been

coaxed back into place,

restoring it to the ornate
silverware accessory

that would have been pride of place
in a Victorian drawing room.

Hello. How are you doing? Hi.
Are you all right? Yes, thank you.

Yes, brilliant. Thanks. Good.

So you brought in a
magnifying glass. I did.

Do you remember what it was like?

Dangerous. Dangerous.

OK, we've had a little play with it
and do you want to have a look?

Please! OK.

Oh, my word.

Can I touch it? Of course you can.
You can.

Oh, that's genius.

That is fantastic.

Oh! Thank you.

Brilliant. I'm glad you're pleased.

Gosh.

I think the great thing about
this is that now it can

be part of my life again.

I can use it and it can be centre
stage again,

and it just brings back
so many memories.

Just fantastic. Thank you.

OK, so I had a little dig around
and I found the hallmark on it -

it's just under your thumb there.

You'll probably need
a magnifying glass to see it.

I don't know where you're going
to get one of those!

But it was made by Adie & Lovekin
in Birmingham in 1894.

Gosh! Fabulous.

1894?! 1894.

So it's had a bit of... Yeah.
It's got some age to it.

Well, Granny was born in 1902,
so it would have been...

It probably belonged to her parents,
I'm guessing. Probably.

And then she would have
been given it.

But they'd have probably bought
it new.

Oh, that's really interesting.

So now you have it in your hands,
what kind of memories does

it bring back?

Well, it was always centre stage...
Right.

..and it will be again,

because it's been locked
away in a spare room,

consigned to oblivion
where it can't lacerate any guests.

But now it can be back
in the centre of life.

And it was always in the centre
of Granny's table,

and it'll be in the centre
of my sitting room now.

So, brilliant. Thank you.
Excellent.

So thank you for bringing it in.
Brilliant.

Thank you very much indeed.

I shall be very careful.
Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Bye.

Amazed, absolutely amazed.

It's wonderful that it's fixed now.

And every day now I'll see it and
remind me of my mad old granny.

Join us next time as more cherished
memories are revived...

Oh, my God! Oh, wow!

..and family treasures rescued
in the Repair Shop.

SHE GASPS