04x05 - Push-Along Horse

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to The Repair Shop, where
much-loved but broken treasures...

This is amazing.
It is absolutely brilliant.

..are brought back to life.

Welcome to my universe.
It's pretty marvellous furniture.

Furniture restorer Jay Blades...
It's so nice that we can be part of

that kind of history
to just keep things going.

..and a dream team of
some of the country's most

skilled craftspeople...

I'm having a lot of fun, and
I'm really liking the end result!

Sounds like teamwork.

..bring their talents to bear
on beloved pieces of family history.

Look at that! I'm liking
what I see. Yes.

Is this working? You beauty!

Utilising expertise
passed down the generations...

I'm going to teach you how to do it
the old-fashioned way.

..transforming priceless pieces
of family history...

Oh, my goodness me.

..the Repair Shop team
will resurrect the items...

Oh, gosh!

..the memories...
I'm going to have to hug you.

..and the stories behind them.

Oh, look at that!
Oh, thank you so much.

I can't see it
because of the tears in my eyes.

This is a very emotional job to do
but incredibly worthwhile.

THEY CHEER

In The Repair Shop today,
Dom reaches for the biscuit tin...

You all right? With your biscuits?
Yeah. Yeah!

..as he and England's
last master cooper

repair a pint-sized whisky barrel...

What do you think of me
biscuit tin? I take it all back.

..while a heritage craft dating back
thousands of years is put to

use repairing a beloved
family heirloom.

Put your upright behind two and then
you take a weaver in front of four.

Lay one down, bend the two back.

First to arrive, 93-year-old
retired army officer Thomas Hassall

and his daughter Jane.

They're hoping silversmith
Brenton West can put the shine back

into a precious military memento.

How we doing, sir? Hello.
I'm Jay. I'm Tom. All right, Tom?

Hi, Tom, I'm Brenton.
Nice to meet you both.

So, what have you brought us in?
I've brought this stick.

Swagger stick.

And the problem is it's got
a lot of dents in it. Right.

I don't know if it's possible
to get them out. OK.

I've never seen one of these.
Can you tell us a bit of history

about it? I was called up in 1943,
November, boarded this ship.

We're underwater on the evening
before D-Day,

and I landed on Juno beach.

Then we moved off to Berlin,
because by now the hostilities

had ceased. Yeah.

The company commander
inspected us...

..and the smartest person
on guard duty...

Yeah. ..had to go to
the commanding officer's office,

and he presented us
with a silver stick...

..to do that with.
At lunchtime, he'd say,

"Go into Berlin and have
the afternoon off." That was nice!

So it was worth winning!
Yeah, yeah!

Four times I did that and four times
I got the silver stick.

So you've won this stick
for looking smart. Is that correct?

Yeah. Well, you do look
quite dapper there.

Oh, you've got medals. Woohoo!

This one is because I landed
on D-Day. Wow.

It's a French Legion d'Honneur.

It's equivalent to
our Victoria Cross. Yeah.

That's an amazing medal.

Absolutely amazing achievement.
It is.

So the swagger stick that you got
four times,

you had to give that back, did you?

Unfortunately, I had to
give that back.

How did you end up with this one?

My company commander
for those efforts said,

"I'm going to present you with
this keepsake stick." OK. OK.

Why's it called a swagger stick,
then? Well...

You got a bit of swagger to you?
Yeah, swagger about with it!

So this is quite important
to you, then.

Very important, and brings back
a lot of memories. OK.

So, how do you feel
about the swagger stick?

I love it. We used to play with it
as children. Oh, did you? Yeah.

That's how they damaged it. Yes,
that's how the damage has come! Yes!

What have you got there?
I've got a new badge.

That's a brass badge.
It says Egypt on it.

It's the only regiment in the
British Army that has two badges.

So you want this badge
on the end of there, then? Yes.

The present one is damaged,
as you'll see. Yes.

OK, well, leave this with me.

Is it difficult?
Yes.

I'm sure we're going to be able
to do something. Yeah, of course.

But thank you for bringing it in.
Thank you ever so much.

Really nice to meet you. And I'll
do my best for you. Appreciate it.

OK. You take care now.
Cheerio. Bye now. Bye-bye.

Very smart.
Very smart!

I'm feeling a bit sad because
I'm leaving the stick behind,

but hopefully it'll be repaired.

I think the stick is so important
from the memories it's going to give

to us, and it will get passed down
in generations. It will never

leave our family.

Thomas's beautiful swagger stick
had a bit of a bashing, a bit

of a hard time in its life.
Now, to get these dents out,

I have to get inside the ball
to knock them outwards.

So I've got to get the ball
off the stick.

The first thing I'm going to do
is to try and get the pins out

and see if the ball will pull off.

There's nothing to get hold of
on the other one,

so I'm going to try
and knock that one in.

That's knocked that into the wood.

So we're now free of tacks
stopping me.

And see if this pulls off or not.

Yeah, just as I suspected,
it's really, really tight.

That's been on there 70 years or so.

What I don't want to do is
break the top off the stick.

Here we go. There it goes.
Lumps of glue everywhere.

They're all flying out. That's just
about to come off now.

There we go.

Brenton's tactical manoeuvres
on the swagger stick

are off to a strong start.

But outside, another visitor
is in need of help.

Deirdre Beaton from Perth is hoping
Dom can restore a family heirloom

imbued with fond memories.

Hi, I'm Dom. I'm Deirdre.
Lovely to see you. You OK?

So, what have you brought along?

Well, this is a wee barrel
for dispensing drams of whisky.

Oh, it's tiny! And the family story
is that it was made from wood from

a ship wrecked off the east coast
of Scotland called HMS Fox

and that our ancestor
was the captain of that ship.

And it's just been passed down.

It holds one bottle of whisky
exactly. OK.

And my father was terribly proud
of that.

And the idea was that you put
your whisky in the top

and then this bit... Oh, it's got
a little tap. Oh, brilliant.

So how on Earth did you come to
acquire something like this?

Can you tell me a bit about...? It
came from my father, who inherited

it from his father, my grandad.

So it's been used in the family,
they actually used it.

I remember seeing it
in my grandparents' house.

So it would have still been
in use then, I guess. Oh, yes.

My grandfather would still use it.

I can remember it sitting on a huge
sideboard that had cupboards

on either side and a space in the
middle where we children could hide.

So he obviously loved it.
Oh, yes, he did.

He was very proud of it,
and he did like to use it.

I've got to ask, though,
it doesn't look very watertight now.

No. Do you know
what happened to it?

Yes. It's all my fault.
Oh, no!

I decided to take the metal bands
off to clean them because I had got

polish in the wood, and I thought,
"Well, this time I'll take that,"

and then of course it fell
to bits. So you meant well.

I've kind of expunged the memory,
because it's so terrible.

But I think when I couldn't get
the bands back on,

I thought, "Well, if I take the
staves and try and push them in

"the bands..." and the whole thing
collapsed.

So I'm not even sure that all
the staves are in the right order

and so completely... Yes. Ohhh...!

But I still do display it,
because I am proud of it,

its story, even though I'm not proud
of the state that it's in.

The memories are still there
with it. Absolutely, yeah. Yes.

It seems to be missing a piece.
Do you know anything about that?

Oh, is it in there? Yes,
the other rings are there,

and the end pieces.
Oh, wow, there's more.

It would just be lovely
to have it looking nice and the way

it was when my father took such care
of it, before I got my hands on it!

Well, thank you so much for bringing
it in. I'm kind of anxious but

looking forward to
getting started on it.

Well, there's no way it could be
any worse than it is!

Can't get much worse! No, you're
right, yeah. Brilliant. Thank you.

Lovely to meet you.

I feel very sad
that it's in such a bad state.

It reminds me strongly of
my father, my grandparents

and a way of life that's gone.

It would be unbelievable to be able
to bring it back to life and bring

it back into use again,

and I think I'd throw
a wee party to celebrate.

First impressions are
kind of terrifying. It's...

I'm actually literally
scared to touch it.

I think if I take this hoop off
it will just fall to pieces.

The good news, it looks like
all of the strips, the staves,

they're all there.

On the whole, I'm just relieved
that all the pieces are here.

Straightening out the metal hoops,
fixing the tap, all the bits

like that, cleaning up the wood is
absolutely no problem. I can manage

all of that. But getting this thing
to be even remotely watertight again

is beyond me. That's
a real specialist job.

On his mission to repair
the swagger stick,

Brenton is preparing to separate
the ball from the metal tube

that connects it to the staff.

I'm hoping that this tube has been
soft-soldered onto the ball...

..and I can just heat it up
and it'll fall off.

If it's silver-soldered on
rather than soft-soldered,

heating it up won't work.

I'm pulling quite hard on here and
this is not coming off, so I fear

this is silver-soldered on.

The delicate silver sphere is made
of two halves soldered together.

If Brenton overheats the metal,

the danger is the two halves
of the ball could fall apart.

I have to be really careful. I know
how precious this is, and I want

to keep it intact if I can.

So I'll saw the tube off and we can

get to work trying to knock
some of these dents out.

The broken brass badge needs
to be removed from the top,

but that, too, is proving
to be a challenge.

Part of this badge came off
really easily and this other bit

seems to be being a bit awkward,
so I'm going to heat that up and see

if it'll come off now.

Good grief, what is that
held on with?

That's ridiculous.

That's not coming off there.

OK, plan B.

I think I'll probably
file that off of there

when it's cooled down.

But first, there's the task
of hammering out all the dents

on the delicate middle ball.

So this is quite important
to Thomas, that these dents

are removed from here.

So, basically, the ball has taken
a shock to the outside with

some sharp object,

boomph, like that, and I'm just
going inside and boomphing

it back out again.

I wish I could climb inside the ball
and just get in there and bash them

out. It'd be a lot easier
than having to do them...

It's sort of blind, because I can't
look in there at the same time,

so I've just got to have
a little hit and see if I've...

..done a good job or not.

Once Brenton has finished
hammering out the dents

from the inside, he needs to
tap down the protrusions formed

on the outside.

To provide a solid
supporting surface,

he fills the bowl with melted
pine resin, known as pitch.

OK. So I've got to let that cool
down now. Once that's cooled down,

that pitch will be absolutely solid
in there, hard as anything.

The pitch inside
is nice and firm now.

I'm basically just
tapping away and it's slowly

becoming smoother and smoother.

So, Tom's ball is now dent-free.
It's filed and ready for polishing.

So all I've got to do is solder this
on here, polish it, put the badge

back on, put it on the stick.

Next, retired midwife Jane Peppice
and her husband Richard

have travelled from Southampton,
bringing an heirloom that played

a part in raising
three generations of their family.

Dom is with expert
willow weaver Sarah Hatton.

Hi. I'm Dom. This is
the lovely Sarah. Hello. Hi.

These are my baby-weighing scales.
Wow! OK.

These were obviously meant to go
all the way round, and so you lie

the baby in there quite safely.
And put the weights on to see
how heavy your baby is.

Almost like you'd have
in your kitchen. But bigger. Yeah.

It's not terribly safe.

No, I don't think you'd want to put
a baby in now, would you? No.

Not really. How long has this
been in your family?

Well, probably in there
100 years, because my mother

would have been 90 this year.

It was bought for her... When she
was a baby. ..when she was a baby.

And she's the eldest of four girls.

Then I think it was given
to my next aunt, Marian.

She was the one
who passed it on to me then,

when I was expecting
my first, our son Oliver,

and then our two daughters
were weighed.

Your whole family just in here. Yes!

It's quite fun to think back
of my mother and my aunts

as little babies being put in there.

And when you look at it now,
what memories does this bring

back for you?

I suppose the joy of having my own
children and seeing them growing

and knowing that they're
growing well and they're healthy.

I particularly remember my son
being plonked in here.

And that's why the sides
are so important!

And what's left of it
is absolutely beautiful.

It's amazingly well made. The border
especially is very neat.

It's made with buff willow
which has been stripped of its bark.

They used to use buff willow
on mass-made products

because it's much quicker
to soak, because the bark

has been stripped off.

But it does mean that it can get
a little bit more brittle. It looks

like a lot of work. It does.
It's a bit scary.

There's quite a lot of it missing.

We now have one grandchild
and another on the way.

You've got more baby weighing
to do. More baby weighing,

but I'd like them prepared so
my daughters don't look at them

with horror and think, "I'm not
putting my baby in there!"

No. It's part of my family history,
and I think it would be lovely

to see it carried on
and being used.

Well, thank you very much for
bringing them in, and it's over to

you, I'm afraid!
Thank you! Lovely to meet you.

Thank you very much indeed.
Thank you very much.

Thank you. Bye.
See you later.

I'm quite excited about leaving
the baby scales behind and seeing

how they'll turn out but also
obviously a bit apprehensive

of parting with them.

It takes me back to my children
being babies and all the joy

that that brought me.

So, OK... Yeah. The mechanics, this
bit, the scales, is fine. Yeah.

I can get my head around that.
That looks OK. Maybe could do with a

clean. Yes. Yeah. But other than
that, it looks like it's all there.

Yeah. This terrifies me. Even to get
a hold... Look, the more I'm holding

it, it's just crumbling apart.
Bits are falling off. Yeah.

What's your plan?
Do you have a plan of attack?

I do have a plan of attack. I would
like to keep as much of this

beautiful weaving that's
there already as possible.

OK, so this will come
all the way round. Yes, absolutely.

But it is just these parts
where you join into the existing

baskets which will be the problem.
So that's making you nervous, is it?

Yes, very nervous.

But if I soak it, hopefully
it will make it more pliable.

But it's 100 years old, so...
And brittle as anything, isn't it?

Yes, absolutely. Cool. Well,
there's plenty of work.

I don't want to touch that
any more. No!

So, the three main things
I have to do with this is to add

the side stakes around the bottom
where they're all missing,

I need to join on top of the weaving
but in a nice, undulating way,

and then to finish the border off.

But first of all I have to
soak the basket in water.

When you soak it in water, it makes
it more flexible, and that will help

me when I join the old to the new.

Outside, Dom is also devising
a plan of attack.

He needs to get the broken whisky
barrel back together and watertight

again, so he's called in help
from England's last master cooper,

Alastair Simms.

Hello. Lovely to see you.
Nice to see you again.

I heard you've got a problem.
Yeah.

Look. I'm literally
so terrified to touch it.

I think that it's about to fall
apart. After my training last time,

you can't fix that? No!
DOM LAUGHS

So, basically, I would love to be
able to get it watertight again.

Deirdre's never seen it working.
It's been dry for a long time.

What do you think?

On closer inspection,
when you look at where it is...

..all the hoops, marks down there...
Yeah, we've got the hoops.

There's been four on each end.
You haven't got eight hoops.

Yeah, OK. I didn't realise that.
One, two, three, four. Oh, no.

I think we're going to have to get
a biscuit tin, a proper tin one.

Oh, what, for the metal? Yeah. Yeah,
I'm going to have to cut some hoops

to match it. OK. Yeah, I could do
that. I could do that. Anything in

particular? Yes. Nice choccy ones.
Yeah, OK. Yeah? No worries. And I'll

stop here and do this. Good luck.
Right, see you later.

The techniques Alastair uses have
barely changed since Roman times.

This is the most important part -
pick the staves up,

look at the patina and
try to match them together.

Like that. And sometimes, they might
have been put back the wrong way

round, so you've got to
try everywhere.

See? That's an instant match.
I'll put them on one side.

I wouldn't like to think how many
times I've done this in my life.

This is the bit
where you need patience.

Alastair, I'm back with
your biscuits. Look at that,

you've been eating them, as well!
Look at the colour, though.

The inside is really close
to that silver.

See? I told you. Yeah.
I don't know why I doubted you.

ALASTAIR LAUGHS
Well done. And some more good news.

So you've literally had to sort of
just go for a match. Match...

The colour. ..everything up
and move a few pieces about.

Oh, my...! That's why we've wiped
all the numbers off it now.

Next step is we're going to
take this, you're going to hold

it and I'm going to stand
all these pieces of wood up in it.

In the right order. Yeah. OK.

So, this one, the one with
the bung in, goes like that.

Yeah. That makes sense.

We just basically put
the staves under, look.

It's the same as if
you were doing a big cask.

So you treat this... Even though
it's miniature you're treating it

exactly the same way. Yeah.

Let go now. You sure? Yeah.
Completely? Completely. I've got it.

Right, the biggest hoop.
Yeah. Rivets up? Yeah.

You're trusting me...
All the way down.

Already that looks so much better.

What we'll do is we'll tighten
all the hoops up. By pushing them.

And pushing it down.

And we look through all these joints
coming right and the shape coming

right. I see. We can't do that
till we get everything tight. So we

sort of have to build it... Yeah.
..almost completely

and make sure it's OK. Make sure
it's OK. OK,

so we may be doing this a few times.
Yeah. Yeah! OK.

What do we need? Three more?
Three more. Three more hoops.

OK, we'll cut those out of
the biscuit tin. Yeah. Let's do it.

You seem very confident with this.
Is this something you've done

before? Not me personally, but...

..I remember, when I was an
apprentice, going round to an old

cooper's house in Burton on Trent
with my old boss. Yeah.

And he was cutting biscuit tins up
to make hoops for his little cask.

A similar size.
Yeah. And smaller, yeah.

And apparently, it was
what the old coopers used to do.

So this isn't that strange.
No. No. OK!

You're doing the same thing now
that the gentleman that made

it did, except he was probably
sat in front of his fire at home

with a nice glass of whisky.
Yeah!

DOM LAUGHS

You all right? With your biscuits?
Yeah! Yeah!

How about you file that for us?
Do you mind? I was enjoying meself,

watching you and eating me biscuit.

What do you think of me
biscuit-tin hoops now? Yeah. Eh?

I take it all back. It's worked.
It has worked very well.

Well done. Very good. I shouldn't
have doubted you, should I?

THEY LAUGH

Now the metal hoops are on,
the next challenge is to tackle

the wood, centuries old.

Here you go, Alastair, I got your
hot water. What's going on here?!

You didn't bring me a funnel,
so I've got to pour freehand.

What are you putting in there?
Sugar? Salt.

What's that for? Ooh!
What's that for?

That's just to sweeten the cask up.

You can sweeten
the cask up with salt? Yes.

What the salt does, it opens the
surface pores of the timber and

pulls all the nasties out
so it makes the timber sweet again.

This will be the test of how many
leaks it's got, no? Exactly.

Are you nervous?
Sort of.

Straight away, look. Oh, no,
it's coming out. Oh, look.

Oh. Ow, ow!

I think we need to soak it
in a bucket.

Soaking the barrel in water
will rehydrate the timber, making

it swell, theoretically
sealing any gaps.

So we leave that for, what,
overnight? Overnight. And we'll test

it again in the morning. Yeah, test
it again in the morning. Brilliant.

It's been a challenging repair,
but now, on the home straight,

Brenton is buffing up the D-Day
veteran swagger stick in readiness

for its crowning glory,
the new bronze badge.

I've just polished the top
of the stick and I'm now

going to put the badge...

..onto it.

Let that set.

OK, now I'm going to glue
the stick onto here.

So, this is the stick
about to go into the...

..top for the very last time.
Push that up tight.

Back to reclaim the symbol
of excellence, one of many gained

during a glittering military career,
93-year-old Thomas Hassall

and his daughter Jane.
It brings a lot

of memories back to me, memories
of being in the forces in Germany.

It was a great honour to receive
it, and I'm hoping he can return

it to pristine condition.

We are really looking forward
to actually seeing it again,

cos it means, really, so much
to us as a family.

Hi. How we doing, Tom?
Are you all right? Hi, Tom.

Have a stool.

There we go.

We might as well put you out of
your misery, I think. There we go.

Wow.

Wow.

Excuse me.
It's OK, Tom.

Can I pick it up?
Course you can! It's yours.

My! That's absolutely beautiful.

That's amazing.

Oh!

I can't believe it.

What a super job
you've made of that.

I know what it means to you,
so it's been a pleasure doing it.

I don't even know
how you can get into the dents.

There's ways. It's a secret.
There's ways!

JANE: It's beautiful.
I'm overwhelmed. Yeah?

JANE: Something to treasure.

It is something to treasure,
definitely. I said this morning

it's going to be passed down
to my daughter.

You're passing it down?
Not now. She's not having it now.

THEY LAUGH
She might put some more dents in it!

So, how does it make you feel, then,
Tom, having it back in that...?

Thank you, sir. Haven't you
got to stand up, though?

You've got to stand up
holding it, haven't you?

That's better. Like that.
Yes, sir.

Absolutely proud as Punch
with it now. Yeah?

Like the day you got it? Yes.
And I want to thank you all...

..for what you've done for me.
Yeah.

That's what we do,
and we enjoy doing it.

It's a lovely pleasure to have.

But, er...what pleasure
you've given me.

Tom, it's been a pleasure.
The pleasure's been mine,

I can assure you. Thank you
so much. I enjoyed doing it.

I'm glad you're pleased.

That's what I like to see.
All right, sir?

Take care, now.

Bye, everybody.

It took me back to
Spandau Barracks in Berlin,

where it was presented to me.

I feel as if
I'm back to normal again.

And I feel like swaggering with it.

And we will treasure it
in our family forever.

I can tell you, I shall enjoy it
for the rest of my life.

It's wonderful.

In the outdoor workshop, it's time
to see if the overnight soaking

has done the trick
on the 18th-century whisky barrel.

High hopes?

You look a bit nervous.
Fingers crossed.

Oh, look. See, the head's
warped straight away.

But the rest of it, if you
hold it... Tip it down that way.

It was all coming out here before,
out of everywhere. So, yeah,

all of these are really good.
Yeah.

We'll be able to just knock that
back in. Hopefully. Then we can...

Broke it. It's broke, look, so we're
going to have to make a new one.

It's just knackered, isn't it?
It's just rotten. Yeah, it's rotten.

OK, so there's me thinking we'll
pull it out of the bucket of water

and fill it straight up with whisky.
Yeah, me, too, as well.

Dom cuts a new head.

It's turned into a bigger job
than we both thought, I think.

Yeah. We have to remake
this head. Yeah. Yeah.

It'll be worth it, though.
It would mean so much to Deirdre.

I just hope she has a glass of
whisky out of it every night and

thinks about all the hard work
me and you have put into it.

I'll get me spoke shaver now so
we can shape them. To get the shape

on the edge. Yeah, on the edge.
Yeah. Brilliant.

I can't believe
it's coming apart AGAIN.

Put that in and line
the centre of that up.

So, are we going to have to
soak this again?

Yeah, we need to just get a kettle

of hot water and we'll fill it
on the stand.

Because, hopefully, it will
hold the water now. Hopefully.

How's it looking?

I think it's looking good.
I mean, it's come a very long way,

hasn't it? It has come a very long
way. That first time we filled it up

and it was just... Yeah. Well done.
I'm absolutely blown away.

I can't believe you've managed
to make it watertight. Brilliant.

I told you we would. You told me,
yeah! You were as nervous as me.

I was. Yeah. But, yeah,
that's good, innit?

Thank you for your help.
No, it's great.

Back inside the barn, basketry
expert Sarah is working on the baby

scales that weighed three
generations of one family.

Hello, Sarah. Hello! I got you
some... Oh, thank you. ..willow.

Is that all right? Yes. It's dried,
though, so I wouldn't use this,

because you can see when I bend
this, it actually snaps.

Is that why that's wet now?
Yes, absolutely. Yes.

So I soaked that earlier, and I've
already cut them into the scalloms

that I need. Well, what is that?
What's a scallom?

I've scooped the scallom out, so
it's a long cut which goes along the

bottom of the willow rod.
OK.

And that's... Attach it,
so this is now the side stake,

so one of these stakes
along the side of the basket. Right.

And this is how you attach the side
to the base of the basket.

So, how long have you been doing
this, though? That doesn't seem

easy. I've been doing it
for ten years, but repairs

like this are quite difficult.
How did you get started, then?

Well, I was actually working in IT!

I went to the RHS Show in Cardiff
and I made a flower.

You made a flower...?
I made a flower from willow. Right.

And that was it. And you got
the bug. What happened then?

I then booked myself
on eight courses

and I bought three-and-a-half acres
of pasture with my dad

and I planted 2,000 willow cuttings.

Wow, you really got the bug, didn't
you? Oh, yeah. Yeah, big time.

Yeah, I absolutely love it.

So I can now start adding
some of the side stakes. Just snip

that off so it's nice and flush,
because I'm going to have to add

the new piece into it.

So, you make a space
through the weaving.

And then push the...

..scallom through.

And I'm just going to bend this
very carefully around and thread

it through behind the side stake...

..so that it ties that in
really nicely.

And then up onto the weaving,
ready to join my next scallom.

So, I'm carefully selecting
my willow rods, because none

of the willows is the same.

They're all different thicknesses.
So you use the different thicknesses

of the rods in different
parts of the basket,

so for example the bottom part
of the basket uses thicker rods.

I want it to be as neat as possible.

I'm just doing the row of weaving
now, which is called fitching,

which actually holds it
in position.

And this is the kind of last
opportunity, really, to get it

in the right shape.
And I'm having it in a nice curve

so it's lowering down at the bottom.

And now I'm going to have these
coming up nice and straight

just to keep the baby in the scales.

So, in the 1920s it was really
common for willow to be used

for all kinds of containers.

I would say probably every household
had a willow basket.

But the introduction of plastics
really changed everything,

and willow baskets in the '70s

lost their popularity,
which I think is a real, real pity,

because it's such a sustainable
material, which is obviously

completely different to plastics.

So, I can turn these uprights down
to make the border, which goes

around the entire part
of the basket.

So you actually put your upright
behind two and then you take a

weaver in front of four
and then you lay one down

next to your rod, like that...

..and then bend the two back.

But that makes a really nice,
compact border.

Sarah's basket may be
beginning to take shape,

but in the outdoor workshop
Dom is putting the finishing touches

to the miniature whisky barrel.

So, the original tap on Deirdre's
cask here unfortunately was broken.

So, I've managed to actually find
a replacement, which is as close

as I can. It's an old piece,
as well,

so a similar sort of age
as the original, and it would

have come off of
a similar-sized cask.

So I think it's
quite a fitting replacement.

Just give it a final wipe-over
with some linseed oil now.

This doesn't actually seal the wood,
it treats it to stop it drying out

and makes it a bit more waterproof.

Really happy with how it looks now.
It looks a lot different.

It's ready for Deirdre to take away
and fill with her whisky.

Deirdre has not seen her family's
whisky barrel in one piece

for over 20 years.

I'm really hoping that Dom's
been able to put my

barrel together again.

I don't really expect it
to be in working order.

That would just be
too much to ask for.

Hello, Dom. Lovely to see you again.
Good to see you again. You OK?

I'm fine. How are you? Yeah,
very good, thank you. Very good.

So, can you explain to me
firstly how you remember

what you brought in to us?

Well, I remember it was
my little whisky barrel.

The whole thing just looked so sad,

and I really felt a bit guilty about
having made such a mess of it. Ohhh!

Did you have an awful struggle
with it? It was a lot of work.

I'm sure it was. But I won't
hold you in suspense any longer.

Are you ready?
Gosh, yes!

Oh, my goodness!

Oh, my goodness.

I didn't expect all these rings
to be back on it.

Ohhh!

And you put a new tap on. Yeah.
Oh, Dom! Well, thank you so much!

That's is just... Och,
that's just absolutely beautiful.

Oh, my goodness.

I really did not expect it
to look as good as that.

Well, hang on. I've got
another little surprise for you.

You can do the honours. It doesn't
work, does it? Go on. Gosh!

Oh! Goodness! My goodness!

Oh, Dom! That is...
Oh, that is absolutely fantastic.

How does it smell? Of whisky.
Yeah! It's whisky!

Well, slainte mhath. Slain...
What's that? Slainte mhath.

Slainte mhath.

Oh, my goodness. Tastes good? That's
the best whisky I've ever had.

Well, thank you so much, Dom.
You must come for a dram in Perth.

Bye, then.
Thanks so much.

Oh, gosh, I'm feeling so happy and
delighted and overwhelmed, really.

It's so much better
than I had even hoped for.

It's absolutely amazing
that he's got it to function.

I really did not expect that.
Yes, my father was tremendously

proud of it.

He'd be so pleased and he would be
dispensing drams all over the place

out of it, I'm sure.

Also working to preserve
a family heirloom,

Sarah is approaching the crucial
moment where she attaches

the new woven section
to the hundred-year-old border

on the baby scales basket.

I'm just about to get
to the end of the border.

So, I started over this side
and I've come all the way round.

So it's a bit of a nerve-racking
moment, because it's quite brittle.

I don't want to break it.

So, these ones here are the ones
that I've soaked and I've made damp

again, and this one is actually the
new one. So I'm just going to hold

my breath while
I thread those in again.

It's a very tight...

..gap.

That's gone in really well,
actually, that one.

And that's the beauty of basketry,
is that it's not always easy

but practice makes perfect.

SHE EXHALES

So, I'll be sleeping
quite well tonight,

knowing that Jane and Richard's
grandchildren will be weighed safely

in this basket.

When the baby scales arrived
at the Repair Shop,

sections of the basket were missing,
meaning they were not

fit for purpose.

Now Sarah has woven her magic,

Jane and Richard have come
to collect them.

The baby scales have been
in my family for about 90 years.

They were bought to weigh my mother.
We have a grandchild on the way,

and I would like to be able
to use them again.

I'm looking forward to this.

Gosh. How are we doing?
You all right?

I heard you say as
you was walking through the door

you're looking forward to this.
Yes. Very much. Yeah, very.

I can't imagine
what you've done to it.

I can only picture them
as they were, sad and dilapidated.

So, you want to see how she's done.

We do! Actually dying to know!

OK. Shall we let them see?
Yeah. OK.

Oh, wow!

Gosh, look at that!
That is fantastic!

That is a proper basket.
Look at that!

You've done a wonderful job.
Thank you so much.

Isn't that beautiful,
with a proper little bottom bit?

You've done all the side struts.

You can hardly see the join.
Where is the join?

She's good.

And yet they haven't lost the
sort of look that they are old.

I tried to keep as much of
the old basket as possible,

because obviously that's
your heritage and your history.

So hopefully our daughter will have
no objection to putting her baby in

there. I think they will be used
and loved. Right. Oh, brilliant.

So, we'll give you a hand.
Right. Brilliant. All right?

I'm really happy to be reunited
with my baby scales.

The workmanship is so good.

It's brilliant, isn't it?
It's just... Wonderful.

It's lovely to have something
in the family that's gone

through the generations.

I think my grandmother
would be very pleased to think

that they are still in use
and that we've treasured them,

had them restored and that they will
go on to be used in the family

in the future.

Join us next time,
as our talented craftspeople...

That really does look the part,
though. It really does.

..breathe new life
into much-loved treasures...

Come here!

..in The Repair Shop.