05x12 - Antique Bridle

[bunniefuu]

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

It's in a bit of a sorry state.

..are restored to their former
glory.

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

Furniture restorer Jay Blades...

Now the fun begins. I know.

So nice that we can be part of that
history to just keep things going.

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

Looks absolutely amazing.

Wicked.

You really start to see the thought
that went into making it.

..come together to work
their magic...

Teamwork. Absolutely.

Yes. Beautiful.

..employing heritage craft skills

passed down the generations...

Ooh. It's my duty to make sure
that this all goes back

in working order.

..preserving irreplaceable
heirlooms.

It's absolutely amazing,
it really is!

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

The team will restore the items...

Oh!

..the memories... Yes!

Yes!

..and unlock the stories

that they hold.

And it's touched my heart.

It's amazing.

In the Repair Shop today,

the problems start multiplying

when Steve takes on a mechanical
calculator...

This looks so complex,

it's almost like an Enigma machine.

I'm not sure whether I can
actually do this.

..while an antique bridle
sees Suzie and Brenton

in close collaboration.

Could you make me a new heart?

Aw... Aw. What's happened?

It's still very loose at the moment.

Usually in a big wheel
you've got a lot of flex,

so you can... Oh, look, look, look,
they're here. Oh.

But first, an item
that's seen better days.

Wow!

I can't believe it.

I'm Jay. You all right? Nice to
meet you. I'm Dom. Hi, Dom.

Jeanette Drew and her mother,
Margaret Murphy,

have travelled from Lancashire.

You've got something in the boot
for us?

We have,
but I'm under no illusions here,

this might be a bench too far, guys!

THEY LAUGH

They're hoping metalwork expert
Dominic Chinea...

We'll get it inside
and have a proper look at it.

..can save a beloved bench

that's sadly on its last legs.

Fragile thing, isn't it?

It used to be a nice bench.

It used to be a wonderful bench,
didn't it, Mum?

It did, many years ago.

Tell us about it, then.

I remember it in the '50s

when I first met my husband... OK.

..in his mother's garden, it was.
Oh, right.

And we were introduced

and we went in the garden
and sat on the bench,

it was lovely.

So how old was you then?

16, sweet 16.

Sweet 16? Yeah, I fell for him,

hook, line and sinker.

So this was your mother-in-law's
bench? Yes.

After she died, the family
home was sold,

and my husband wanted the bench.

He was very sentimental.

He wanted something
to remember her physically. He did.

So we had a market garden
at the time, didn't we?

And I worked there as well. Yeah.

So this became our bagging bench.

Bagging bench. So, in Lancashire...

What's a bagging bench?

Well, we grew tomatoes and lettuce.

At 11 o'clock you needed a break.

You're mucked up to the eyeballs,
you can't go in the house,

you sit on the bench,
have a brew, bit of toast,

chill for about ten minutes...

Yeah. ..before you go back in

and do more work. Ten minutes?

Do you not get ten minutes?
DOM: It's like working here!

Don't you get...?
Don't you get a bagging break here?

No, we get elevenses,
we get elevenses.

I might try that, actually, a
bagging break. It's a five-minute
break.

It's only about five minutes,
not ten minutes. Yeah.

So this became our bagging bench...
Right. ..for many years. It did.

And then Dad in 2002,

it was awful sad, wasn't it, Mum?

It was, it was very sudden.

He just started with a bit of
tiredness and then within four weeks

he died of cancer, didn't he?
Yeah, he did.

And you couldn't cope, could you?
I couldn't cope, no.

I'm afraid it got a little bit
neglected. Yeah.

So we just sort of put
plant pots on it

and thought about
what we could do with it!

Hydrangea there.

What would you like Dom to do to it?

Because it looks...
DOM: The big question.

If we could just have the little
white bench back.

Just the little white bench back.
That would be amazing.

The emotional attachment I can see
is quite strong to this bench.

But it's not worth nowt,
that's the thing.

It's not worth nowt,
but it's the memories.

Memories are priceless, aren't they?
Weird.

So for us, it's probably the most
precious thing

we've got, really, from our past

of Dad and Grandma, so...

..to actually sit on it, you
feel...you feel close, don't you,

to the people that once sat on it...
Yeah.

..that were so special to you?
So it means a lot.

Yeah.

It's been a real pleasure
meeting you guys.

Thank you for bringing the bench in.

Thank you.
Thanks a lot, cheers, thank you.

You take care now. Bye. Bye-bye.

Good luck!

I'll need it.

THEY LAUGH

The last ten years... Yeah.

..it's just been a sad bench.

And to have that restored

would be the best,
absolutely the best.

I can picture me having a cup
of tea on a lovely white bench.

Well, it will not... You know,
they've not fixed it yet, Mum...

No. ..so let's just give them
a chance. Yes, yeah.

They were so lovely.

They are, and the thing about it,

it doesn't feel like it's 70
years old, or over 70.

Over 70 at least, yeah.

The only bit is that bit there.

Where... That's obviously the
plant pot... Yeah.

..dripping on it.
You need to be able to sit on it.

You can't have a bench in your
garden and not be able to use it.

Not for just flowerpots, no. No.

We can do better than that.
I think we can.

So, I think first things
first, take it all apart. OK.

I need to separate the wood
from the metal.

All the metal has to be sandblasted,
strip it right back

so I know what we're working with,
and then deal with the woodwork.

All right, let's get you started.
There's a lot of work on.
Is it not bagging break?

No. No? No.

THEY LAUGH

The components that it's made
of, this main support,

is bog-standard

bits of angled steel with the ends
chamfered off.

To Jeanette and Margaret
this means so much more.

Just because it's made of basic
materials does not mean

I'll be treating it any differently

to the most elaborately,
beautifully carved bench.

It's still just as precious to me.

So I'm going to cut all
of these nuts and bolts off.

They're all coach bolts,

so they have like a square taper

pushed into the wood.

So by cutting off the nut,
and by pushing the bolt out,

it should cause less damage
as possible to the wood.

Oh.

It's a bit of... It's given a bit of
a fight, but that's it.

That's off.

This is in a real state.

Look at that.

There's no way this is going
to be strong enough to sit on.

I wouldn't even put a flowerpot
on top of this.

This is the perfect candidate
for sandblasting.

It will expose any hidden horrors
on the rest of the piece.

Next to the Repair Shop
is Donald Creasy

with daughter Becky

and grandsons Sam and Joe.

They are hoping Steve Fletcher's
mechanical expertise

might solve a tricky problem.

Hello. Hi, there.
I'm Steve. Who are you?

Sam. Sam, hello, Sam.

Joe. Joe.

Went to shake your hand there.

I'm Becky. Becky.

Don. Don, hi.

And what have you brought us?
We have brought you

a Triumphator calculator,
it's a mechanical

calculator that my dad used

when he worked in a laboratory...

..about 55 years ago.

Dad rescued it when they were
chucking it out of the lab

when the new calculators came in.

I just thought it was
too nice a thing

to be thrown out.

Were these all around the
laboratory?

No, as far as I know, that was the
only one that was in the laboratory

and people used to queue up.

Oh, that's interesting, isn't it?

Because you...

Today you'd get
a calculator in your pocket.

Our first experience

of an electronic calculator,

we were gobsmacked,

we thought it was absolutely
marvellous.

Sam and Joe, this must be
quite prehistoric to you?

Yeah. Yeah.

Grandad's brought it in

a couple of times and we've seen it

and compared it to modern-day
calculators.

Yes.
But we've never seen it working.

And have you tried to get it
working, or tried to play with it?

We've tried to turn the handle,

but...

You haven't been able to? No. OK.

I've never worked
on a calculator before.

And if it's not working,

I've got to work out why
it's not working

before I can do anything,

so I might need a little instruction

on the way of using it

before I even try to

take it apart and look at it.

I can't remember too much
about using it...

Right, OK.

..strangely, 55 years or so...

Yes. It does confuse you.

You didn't bring along the
instruction booklet? No.

I would like to see
an instruction booklet.

I think if I take this apart,

I might like to see an
instruction book, actually.

Thank you very much for bringing
it in,

and I'll see what I can do.

Thank you so much.
OK. Thank you, bye-bye.

Bye-bye, now.

I think it's in very good hands,

and let's see if he can get it
working again,

we would be over the moon.

This looks so complex, it's
almost like an Enigma machine.

It all just seems to be jammed up.

None of these levers are working.

I do wonder what's actually happened
to it

to have made it jam up like it has.

Right.

It's a bit of a conundrum, actually,

because I've got to work out
how it works

so that I can repair it,

but I don't know what's wrong,
so I don't know what to repair.

Oh, this is really, really complex.

Just move this lever up here

and it's all just locked again
in a different place.

I'm not sure whether I can
actually do this.

In the outdoor workshop,

Dom has managed to completely
take apart

the crumbling garden bench

and is trying to work out how much
of the slatted wooden seat

he can save.

How are you doing, Dom?
Hey, Jay. You OK?

Got a delivery for you.

This is the little white bench,
all laid out.

This is the one, obviously,
we're going to be replacing.

That one's gone.

And what do you think of this one?

Basically, water has got
into that one,

a bit like that. It's soft.

Yeah, it's just too soft.

No, get rid of that one.
That one's gone.

This one's not too bad, but I think
these are at the front, aren't they?

Yeah. This is the front one.

So we'll just replace all
three of them. Yeah.

These are the most important.

This is where people are going
to sit on the most, really.

Exactly. We need it to last,
don't we? Yeah, definitely.

Well, telling you the truth,
I thought this would be the case

so what I've got is some reclaimed
pitch pine.

Enough to do all three? Hopefully.

Oh, man. That's fantastic. Yeah.

Is that cool? Brilliant. Brilliant.

Thank you very much, Jay.
No problem, Dom.

Rotten slats consigned
to the chipper,

Dom needs to make sure
the replacements

are comfortable enough to sit on.

My new piece is perfectly square.

That's not going to work.

That would really dig into the back
of your leg.

So I'm going to use a router
to take off that top corner

and just round it off,

just to replicate the original piece
as best I can.

That is perfect.
I'm chuffed with that.

That is going to sit alongside
all the original wood perfectly.

Just need to spend a bit more time
sanding it all down,

then I can get ready for the primer.

The next arrivals are 13-year-old
Ella Woolls

and her dad, John,
from Gloucestershire.

A unique piece of their heritage

needs some serious TLC,
and master saddler Suzie Fletcher

is just the person for the job.

Hello, I'm Suzie. I'm John.

John, nice to meet you. Ella.

Hi, Ella. Lovely to meet you.

What have you brought me?

We've brought you a bridle that was
made by my great-grandfather.

He made it? He made the whole thing?

Yeah, he made it by hand.

Hand-stitched everything.

Oh, wow.

There's a few parts missing from it.

This is a lovely bridle.

This is a farm bridle.

I can tell you, he's really skilled.

He was a very good craftsman.

There's some beautiful detailing
that you don't always see.

Do you know much about
how he'd learned the art?

He learned his art in the Army
whilst he was in India. Right.

And then came back and opened
a shop.

OK.

I have a sad ending, really,
I think.

1929, his shop went into decline.

His wife caught influenza,
he caught influenza

and they both died,
leaving four young children...

Oh, my word.
..my grandmother being one of them.

She was only four at the time.

So what on Earth happened to her?

She went with her three siblings

to an orphanage from there on.

And then, years later, somebody
who owned this

recognised the name on the front.

He put his name,
Alfred Woolls, A Woolls from Bisley

and passed it on to my
grandmother...

Oh, wow.

..and this is all she had
of her father.

And it's come down to me.

Anyone else since then,

have they become saddlers
or harness-makers?

No, no, they haven't.

But Ella and my wife,
they all ride horses.

Oh, excellent.

And I attempt. It was Ella's idea to
get this restored.

So what would you like me
to do to the bridle?

Just to see it
how it once would've been,

just to give it another life
almost,

so it doesn't deteriorate any more.

It's amazing on how all this
intricate, like, stitching

can be done by hand

and how many he must have made
for everybody in the village.

We'd like to display, in our house,

this craftsmanship, really,
from our ancestry.

It's probably too far gone
to ever be used again,

but I think it would be rather
lovely

to have it made up back
to how it used to be

for you to be able to display.

I look forward to working on that.

OK. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you.

Having something old that belongs
to the family with our name on it,

it means quite a lot to us.

I really hope that Suzie
will be able to bring it back

to its glory so that it can survive
another 100 years, hopefully.

I really like this.
This is so lovely.

It's made to be used on the farm,

so it was going to be working really
hard.

But he's chosen to do, like,
this lovely decorative edge

instead of doing just
a plain square.

And there's so much about it.

As a saddler, I worked on many
sets of harness

and had to make sets of harness.

And when you look at somebody
else's work,

there are things that you can not
only appreciate,

but go,
"Actually, I like that idea,"

and you can use it

and keep that design going through
all the generations,

because that's the only way
that we learn.

And I came into the trade some
40-odd years ago,

and I now am passing on my knowledge

because we want to keep
these old ways going and alive.

I really feel privileged

that I'm the person that's being
given the challenge to do it.

Yeah, it has some pieces missing.

The headpiece actually holds
the bridle on the horse's head

and we do have
some brass decoration missing.

So I think I'm going to ask Brenton

if perhaps he'll be able to
make me up some replacements.

Brenton! Can I borrow you a minute?
Of course.

Just the person.

Could you make me a new heart?

Aw... Aw. What's happened?

Can you make me two? Greedy!

So we have one
that you could use as a template.

But I've got another favour now.
OK.

It's missing its diamond.
It had two diamonds here.

Now, we don't have one of
the originals...

But it's got to fit inside that
stitching, where it used to live.

Yeah. OK. So one each side is
needed. OK.

And where do you want the clubs
and spades?

SHE LAUGHS

Outside, new slats for the garden
bench in hand,

Dom's moved on to its metal leg
struts.

Back from the sandblasters,

they're now free of 70 years
of paint and rust.

All these holes are where the metal
was so thin

that it's just basically
rusted away.

The only real solution here

is to cut it off and make a new
piece to put in place,

so they're structurally sound.

When cutting pieces off like this,

I can't just weld on a new tube
and hope for the best.

I've got quite precise sort of,
like, bolt holes that have to line
up

and if I have one leg too long,

the whole bench will end
up wobbling around.

So it's really important that

what I put back on is
the same as what I take off.

I've noticed, after drawing this,

that, holding a ruler up to it,

it's actually not straight.

So the new piece that I'm going to
make

is going to bend from this point up.

There's no going back once
I cut this off.

So I just wanted to make sure,
double-check

that I've got everything that I can
get from it

before I slice it off.

Bring this back.

Now, this shows how important
it is to make this little template.

So now I can sort of visualise

and see exactly
what I need to create.

So the first thing to do is
mark across

where the bend is going to be,
clamp that in the vice.

I'm going to have to heat
that area up

because, when I'm bending the tube,

the outside needs to stretch,
the inside needs to shrink,

cos it's quite a thick tube.

So it's going to be a bit
of a job to bend it.

Dom. Jay, how's it going?

Very good. Do you need a hand?

You know what?
It would be really helpful.

I'm trying to bend this bit of tube.
I'm just warming it up now.

I'm strong, Dom, but I'm not
that strong.

I just need to put an ever-so-slight
bend in it.

It doesn't need a lot.

Don't lean on it too much.

We need to go slowly.

See, it's getting red now.
It is getting red.

Let's give it a go. I'll get it.

Wow! Whoo!

It has bent a bit.

That's... Whoa, whoa, OK.

That's it? That went then.
It might be too much now. Whoo!

So let me just get this cool,
because that's really hot now. Yeah.

Oh, I thought it was just going to
go phhhh!

Well, no, I'm kind of being careful.

I don't want it to do that.
Oh, all right.

Oh, that is bent, isn't it?
Look at that! That is bent.

Now we can bring it over,
and everything crossed...

Oh, that is bang-on.

So all you've got to do now...

Weld that back in place.
Dom, nice one, mate.

Thank you for your help.

I couldn't have done that without
you. Thank you.

Dom's next step is restoring
the bench

to its original pristine white.

There's a lot of pieces
to this bench.

That's it, that's the first coat
on all of the pieces now.

I need to let that dry,
go nice and hard

before I've got two,
maybe three more layers to go.

One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine, ten.

Having felt a little bit stumped
by the mechanical calculator,

things are finally beginning to
add up for Steve.

I've been having a long, long, hard
look at this

and I'm starting to get my head
around it now.

This top area here is obviously
for setting the numbers

and then this lower part
is for calculating it...

..I think.

There's a lever under here that
releases.

It's really quite stiff.

Oh, there we go.

Fantastic.

Oh, and the handle's turning,

which means that it was being held
up by something

and maybe held up by this part.

Got this lever here that I think
should actually

reset the numbers on top
and it's not resetting at all.

I'm sure this has been dropped.

There are things that are
out of alignment

and I'm sure
they're holding things up,

which makes me think

that this really has had quite
a bump

and I think that is going
to be the issue,

is trying to get
everything back into alignment.

The Triumphator calculator is
a descendant of the revolutionary

adding machines of the 1900s,

which pioneered the use
of a pinwheel cog

with retractable teeth.

It was the last of its kind
to be used

before the advent of
modern calculators.

But with the ability to display
up to ten digits

and perform calculations
into the millions,

it can still rival its modern
cousins.

There's a lever that I've decided
to bend.

It's quite a strong lever,

but I think it must have been bent
when it was dropped.

That's the only thing I can
think of now.

It's a bit of a leap of faith.

If it doesn't work,
I've got to bend it back.

I sometimes think,
when I'm doing jobs like this,

it's a bit like being a surgeon,

but then I don't think
a surgeon's job

would be so trial and error.

Ooh.

HE SIGHS

Absolutely fantastic. Phew!

I can't tell you
how much of a relief that is.

I was actually thinking
of saying that I couldn't do this

because it was so unknown to me.

So I'm very, very happy.

With the reset device now working,

Steve can apply some logic
to the lower mechanism,

which performs the calculations.

I'm sure that this spindle

should turn when
I pull this lever up,

but it's absolutely
rock...rock solid.

I'm actually going to
take this plate off

so that I can get hold of
the shaft that's running through

and then try and turn it.

Once I start turning it, I'll see
whether it should turn or not,

because I don't know whether
that's right or wrong.

I'm going to pop some oil
in all the places

that I can see there are bearings.

Right, let's try turning this.

It's actually starting
to move a bit easier now.

It probably hasn't been
oiled for...decades.

Actually, Donald said the last time
he used it was 50 years ago,

so why would they have oiled it?

That's starting to become
far more free.

Good. Right.

I think this is going to be a bit
of a moment of truth.

Right. Let's try...

Um...250.

Oh, that's working. That works.

I'm going to try adding another 250
cos that's an easy sum.

I'll know that'll be right
if it's 500.

That's right.

Yes!

It's working.

I can't tell you how relieved I am.

At her bench, Suzie's also
coming on leaps and bounds

with the 19th-century
leather bridle.

Now I'm just coming up
to the end of cleaning

and conditioning the bridle,

and, now, I have to say,

I'm...really surprised at
how nicely it's coming up

considering how dry
and brittle it felt.

Now we get to the fun time

where I'm going to make some
new pieces for this bridle,

and I'm just going to get
my roll of leather.

I'm just going to cut a strip off
of this Dark Havana bridle hide

that I got in, and it really matches
the driving bridle quite nicely,

so I think this is going
to be quite a nice match.

Across the barn, silversmith
Brenton's replacing

the bridle's handcrafted
decorative brass studs.

OK, so I'm going to very,
very gently bend

up to the line that I've drawn.

If you try to bend
the brass all in one piece,

it would make a kink
in the fold in it,

and it has to be done really gently,
slowly easing it round.

This is going to sit up
over like this.

Without the headpiece,

the bridle's just not
going to stay on.

So now I have all those pieces cut,
and I'm going to take my edge tool

and I'll take a very fine slither
of leather off that cut edge,

and it makes it more comfortable.

Careful staining and polishing

means the new leather pieces
will match the old.

Get it nice and shiny.

But it seals all those and
flattens down all those fibres.

I do love leather and I do love
tack. I love saddles and bridles.

And, yeah, it's just...

It's a good job I became
a saddler, really, isn't it?

It is my forte.

I mean, I'm just in my happy
little world now.

In the outdoor workshop,

Dom's now restored all the wood and
metalwork of the garden bench,

but a fiddly job remains.

Finally, time to put
the bench back together.

I've got everything laid out here.

Every nut, bolt, washer.
All the components, the slats.

Everything's here.

It is now just a case of carefully
putting everything back together,

back in place where it should be.

Now this... Hey, Jay.
..is looking amazing.

It's a bit shinier now, isn't it?
It's definitely a lot shinier.

Woohoo!

This is nice. Thank you, yeah.
And, to top it all off...

What have you got? Look what
I've got from the engravers.

Oh, you didn't! Look at that.

The bagging bench.
Wow. What a nice touch.

Can you put this on for us as well?
Yeah, no problem.

Cheers for that, Dom.
I'll leave you to it.

Yeah, thank you! All right.

After decades of exposure
to the elements,

this humble garden bench,

where Jeanette's late father
would take his tea breaks,

was only fit for potted plants.

Now it's ready for Jeanette
and mum Margaret

to put back to its original use
with all its cherished memories.

Even though it was in a sorry state,
we do miss the little bench,

cos it's part of us, isn't it, Mum?
It is.

Hopefully...hopefully they've done
something nice with it.

Hiya. Hiya, Dom. You OK?
Good to see you again.

Good to see you.
So good to see you. Hi.

Good to see you. How are you?

A bit nervous, but excited.

Do you want to have a look?
Yeah, go for it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

GASPING

LAUGHING
Oh, look!

Oh, look what they've written.

"The bagging bench."
Oh, isn't that amazing?

Oh!

Aw, look at that!

It's gorgeous.

It's absolutely gorgeous.

Oh.

Cos I've never seen the legs
look like that. No.

They're incredible. No.

It's not just our
bagging bench back,

it's a new, improved bagging bench.

It just takes me back
to when I was little.

Aw!

Isn't that lovely?

Just reminds me of Dad
so much, and Gran.

Can't believe it. Oh, thanks, Dom.
Can we give you a hug?

Yeah, course you can!

I'm glad you like it.
That is amazing. Well done.

Thank you. You're welcome.
Thank you so very much.

Aw, thank you very much.
It's wonderful.

So does that mean that we can
actually sit on it?

Yeah, of course you can! Yeah.

Oh, wow. Come and have a go.

Oh, wow!

Go on, have a seat.

I... It's a proper bench again!

Oh, that's amazing.

Thank you so much.

We can't thank you enough.

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

Lovely. Good. Thank you so much.

Can't believe what Dom's done
to the bagging bench.

The bagging bench with
that lovely plaque! Oh.

We'll be able to sit on it,
have a cup of tea

and think of Dad and Gran
and everyone else

that used to sit on that bench.

It's amazing. We won't have
a plant pot any more on it!

It'll have a bottom. Oh, no.
Strong enough to sit on.

No plant pots allowed.

The restoration of the antique
bridle continues apace.

Suzie's finalising the
replacement leather straps.

So what I'm going to do is
just trim this throatlatch

to sit nicely at an angle in here.

Pop this up in.

Now I can just...sew that
securely in place.

Meanwhile, with the bridle's
decorative brass hearts made,

Brenton's moved on to the diamonds.

And this is much easier
than the heart

because it's got straight edges.

This can be done much more quickly.

So now that's bent to shape,
I can solder the pins onto it,

and it's the same way the old
diamonds were held on

before they fell off.

That's it. It's bonded.

So this is pretty much
finished on this one side.

Come back two stitches
just to lock in the threads

before we cut them off.

One side sewn.

I just have to sew this side

and we are finished.

Over at his bench, Steve
has really got the number

of the mechanical calculator.

How you doing, Steve?
Yeah. Really good.

You got it working?
Yeah, absolutely.

Give me a sum. 6,050...

..plus...3,000.

There you go.

HE LAUGHS

Now, that... It's great,
isn't it? ..is really cool.

All right. Can you minus
from there, then,

or do you have to do a whole
new sum? Yeah, I can minus 3,000.

Oh, I see what you're doing -

you're going backwards for minus,
forwards for plus. Yeah, yeah.

Well, how does it do
times tables, then?

You pull it out or something?
Right. No, this is more complex.

If a watch beats 18,000
times an hour. OK. OK?

So there's 24 hours in the day.

Then...

And that gives us the total there.

432,000.

This little thing is unbelievable.
Isn't that an amazing machine?

It's an amazing machine,
but what I am more amazed at

is how did you figure out
to do this?

I just had to get in the zone,

and it took me ages
to figure it out.

My brain is just, like, fried.

There's a little bit of smoke
just went like that... Pff.

I need to sit down. It's too much.

When Donald and family brought

the mechanical calculator
in to be repaired,

it was completely jammed up

and hadn't performed
a calculation in decades.

They've returned, keen to see
if Steve's been able

to get it up and running again.

I think it'll be really great to see
the calculator working again

cos, you know, it's been in my dad's
garage for so many years.

And it'll, you know,
just be really pleasing

to actually see what it does.

I'm looking forward to it,

and I really will be fascinated
if I can use it.

Might even have races against
the electronic calculators.

Hello. Hello. Hello.

How we doing? You OK? Very well.

Hello. Hello. That's good.

So are you looking forward to this?
I am indeed.

Steve's been working hard on this
one trying to figure it out.

Was it more difficult than you
expected? A lot more difficult.

Really? Yeah.

I must say, we have been
excited to show you guys.

I'm very, very excited because...

Yeah, I'm going to wait until you
see. You feel you've won the battle.

Yes! Yeah.

Shall we show them? OK. Right.

Wow!

LAUGHTER

It looks like a new one.

Well, Steve is a true wizard,

and he showed me a couple
of sums on this.

Do you want to see it working?
Yes, please. Yeah?

Do you remember how to do
any sums on this, then?

No, I don't. I don't
think I can now.

You can't now, no?

Just do one, Steve. Do one for them.

I'll do a simple multiplication.

Give me a number. 87.
Bigger. 1,000.

And? 400.

400. Times by? What number? Six.

1,400 times by six. Yeah. OK.

One, two, three, four,

five, six.

8,400.

Ah!

That's quite cool, innit?

LAUGHTER

That handle, we've never seen
that going round, have we?

No. No, no.

Marvellous. You happy? I don't
know what else to say. Yes. Yeah.

I'm very happy. Thank you so much.

You're very welcome,

and I hope you have years
of fun with it,

and you can do all
your homework with it

without pressing any buttons.

I don't know whether I'll use
it for my homework,

but I want to try some complex sums
on it when we get back.

And yourself?

I don't think I'll be
bringing it into school...

THEY LAUGH

..but I might try
doing some of my homework on it.

OK. Fantastic. Cool.

Well, thank you for bringing it in.
Thank you so much.

It's been a great pleasure to work
on, and I've learnt so much,

so thank you very much. Thank you.

Take care, now. All right.
Bye-bye, now. Goodbye.

Goodbye.

Well done, eh? Yeah,
it was good, yeah.

They're happy. Yeah, yeah.

It's brilliant to get
the calculator back

and to actually see
that handle going round.

It takes me back about 60 years.

Nostalgic.

It really brings back my youth.

Inside the barn,

Suzie is nearing completion
of the leather work

on the antique bridle.

There we go. One keeper in place.

And that's not going to go anywhere.

Got a present for you.
Yep. What you got?

I got a heart... Yes. ..and I got
a couple of diamonds as well.

Oh, my goodness.

Brenton has done an amazing job.
Yeah, he's done a brilliant job.

Wow. Oh, my goodness.
Look who's talking! Look at this!

Look what you've done, eh?

Well... Come on! It's teamwork.

It is teamwork. It does make
the dream work. Look at this.

This is gorgeous.

So what else have you
got left to do, then?

Literally, I just need to mount
these onto the bridle

and put everything together
and we're good to go.

Is that it?! Yeah! OK.

So I can get John and Ella
to come back in, yeah?

That would be super, yeah.

All right. No problem.
Thanks so much. No problem.

This unique, handcrafted bridle
had long run its final course,

but John and daughter Ella hope
it can now stand testament

to the incredible skills
of their ancestor,

the master saddler.

The bridle is part of
our family history,

so really excited to come
here today and collect it.

I can't wait to see what
the repair looks like

and how it actually
would have looked like

when it was originally made
by my great-grandfather.

Hello. How you doing?
You're all right? Yeah.

Cool. Come on in.

Hey, Ella. It's good
to see you again.

- How are you?
- I'm good.

So you guys ready for this?

Yeah. How do you feel, Ella?

Cos you're the reason why this
is here, aren't you? Yeah.

Excited to see how it looks.

It'd just be nice
to see something

that we can display
and show, really.

You ready to see? I am, yes.

Very much so. Do you want to, Suzie?

Let's just do it. Let's do it.

OK.

It's lovely. Really is quite
impressive, actually.

And in round here as well.

Oh, that's pretty.

It's quite...it's amazing.

It's really good. All the bits
of brasswork are back.

You're smiling, Ella.
That must be a good sign.

Yeah!

I never knew him, so to see
something like that,

it's amazing.

So what do you think Nan
will make of this now, then?

She'll be amazed to see it in
this condition and whole again.

The fact that it could have just
been lost forever, couldn't it?

Absolutely, yeah. If could have
been thrown away at any point.

So, Suzie, do you want to hand
over the reins? Oh, nice one!

But there you go.
There you go, Ella.

- Thank you.
- With pleasure.

And thank you for bringing that in.
Thank you very much. OK?

Thank you very much. Thank you.
It's amazing. Thank you.

Take care.

Oh, it's great being reunited
with the bridle,

and the restoration is
so in keeping with

how it would have looked
the day it came off its horse.

It's quite amazing
to see it in this condition,

how it's been brought back to
how my great-great-grandfather

would have made it
and wanted it to look like.

I think my great-grandfather
would be really happy

to know it survived over 100 years.

He'd be very proud,
I think, of his work.

I'm very proud of his work as well.

Join us again as our craftsmen
and -women use their talents...

I've cut out the rotten areas.
I'll use that as a little template.

..to add years more life
to family heirlooms...

Oh, my God. Oh, my God! Wow.

..in the Repair Shop.