02x09 - Wheeled Elephant

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to The Repair Shop,

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

This is the workshop of dreams.

..home to furniture restorer
Jay Blades.

Nowadays, everybody spends a fortune
on stuff, but 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 tools for the right job.

They will resurrect,

revive... What a man!

..and rejuvenate

treasured possessions and
irreplaceable pieces

of family history.

Wow. He's fantastic!

Bringing both the objects...

This is what I remember.

..and the memories that
they hold...

Wow. ..back to life.

Oh, my God!

In The Repair Shop today,

clockmaker Steve's expertise is
called on to get

a clock striking sweetly again...

CLOCK CHIMES DULLY AND STEVE LAUGHS

That sounds awful.

..while a beloved childhood toy

gets a much-needed overhaul.

I've only got remnants to go by,

so I'm really having to go freehand
with this.

This morning, The Repair Shop has
taken delivery of a mystery item.

It's the oldest piece that has ever
come into the workshop,

and furniture aficionado Will
is itching

to get his hands on the goods.

It seems quite small. Usually, it's,
like, a massive...

It's good it's small, so you can get
the job done and dusted.

Yeah? Are you already giving me
grief before I've even seen it?

Well, let's wait and see.

The proud owners are Nicola and
Roger Mackay from Somerset.

Hello. Hello, there. How are we
doing? Are you all right?

Yeah, thank you. I'm Jay. I'm Nicki.
All right, Nicki? I'm Roger.

So, what do we have here, then?

It's a desk. It's a lovely piece.

I presume it's early
Georgian, 1700s?

It's been in the family from new.

BOTH: From new?! 300 years, this has
been in the family?

It's been passed down the
female line,

so it came to me from my mother

and to her from her mother.

And so on and so on? And so on back.

So, who was this going to go
to, then?

We only had a son, so it will go to
his elder daughter,

our older granddaughter, and her
name's Charlotte. Oh, brilliant.

How old is Charlotte now? She will
be nine next month,

so it will be a long time, I hope,
before she gets it.

Yeah, a very long time. But I'd like
her to have it looking

like a cherished old lady,

not like a brand-new piece because
it's not

and it shouldn't look like that,

but like it's been cared for, rather
than knocked about.

A bit of TLC. Yeah. A bit of TLC.

But for 300 years old, this has done
really well.

It's really nice that it's a piece
of furniture that's actually
been used.

Mm. I see so many pieces where
everybody's afraid to touch it.

You can see ink stains...

Yes, scratches. All sorts of
scratches and everything else.

A lot of those. I can see someone
hasn't been using a coffee coaster.

Not pointing any fingers, I'm just
saying, you know?

Well, thank you for bringing
it along.

If you leave it with us, as soon as
Will's worked his magic,

we will get back to you. Thank you.
OK. Bye-bye. Bye.

This will be a nice job. So, what
are you going to do?

This is going to be my main
problem, here. The woodworm.

I think I might actually replace
that entire corner there.

Cool. Give it a good old clean and
then a polish, but not too shiny.

All right. So you can take this to
your desk.

What, me? Of course you can.

A big boy like you.

The Georgian desk, like much of the
furniture of this era,

has been embellished with a
wafer-thin layer of exotic wood.

It's this decorative veneer that
needs to be replaced.

It's a case of just going around to
test what's soft, what's rotten,

what's chewed up and what can and
can't be used,

so I actually use my fingernail just
to tap around the edges

of the veneer. So, that sound there,

that would suggest that that piece
of veneer is loose.

After treating and then filling wood
rotted by woodworm,

Will fits the new veneers.

Now, all he's got to do is keep them
there while they dry.

It would be really hard to get a
clamp on the end there,

so I've held them in place with some
wood glue

and a bit of masking tape.

So, there's a lot of work to do
here, but once I've finished,

you won't see the patches that
I've replaced.

Next into The Repair Shop,

Pam Edwards with a jumbo challenge

for toy and teddy restoration duo
Julie and Amanda.

Isn't he gorgeous?

Would you like to tell us a bit
about him?

My dad bought him for me when I was
about two or three, I understand.

I'd never seen an elephant. We
hadn't got television.

And when my father brought him in, I
said, "Oh, Daddy, what a big mouse."

Oh, wow. Sorry. No,
that's wonderful.

And so, Pam, what memories do you
have of him?

Loads. But I do remember on a
Thursday afternoon,

when we went to tea at my
Auntie Alice's,

insisting on taking this with us.

Her house was the other side of our
small town,

but I insisted on taking this, with
my mother pulling,

not really wanting to.

But he's had such a rough time.

He's been played with outside, on
his side, upside down.

I think, possibly, my mother did a
re-cover job here.

Did he ever have ears when you
had him?

He had ears when I had him.

A couple of elephant ears.

Yes! Oh, that's amazing! So, you
haven't got to make new ears.

Look! Fantastic.

Which way round they go, I
don't know.

Don't worry, we'll work it out.
We'll sort that out.

I've been afraid to have
him restored.

I thought he might end up
looking too new.

Yes. Just needs a bit of...

TLC. Yes. He's very bald here
because he's been sat on.

We don't want to put new fur back
on him

because it wouldn't suit him in...
You know, of his age.

Thank you for leaving him with us.

We will do our best to make a
wonderful job of him for you...

I'm sure you will. ..and you will be
proud of him.

Don't worry, we'll look after him.
Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

I'm feeling quite emotional
about it,

and remembering happy days when I
played with the elephant.

Isn't he lovely? He is, and I can't
wait to get started on him.

I think, for his sake, and mine,

it would be wonderful to see him
come to life again.

We should give him a name.

OK. What do you think?

Let's call him Mouse.

That's adorable. Come on.
Come on, Mouse.

Julie and Amanda have got a mammoth
job on their hands,

starting with removing the
elephant's existing

moth-eaten felt accessories.

Let me just show you this that
I found.

OK. He might have had a bell hanging
down here. Yeah.

This thread is suggesting it
was there. Yeah, yeah.

And maybe something in the middle of
his forehead. It would be really
good if we could find something.

A little bell. That would look
lovely, wouldn't it? I have
seen them.

The original saddle was stuck
straight onto the elephant's back,

and to remove it, they risk removing
its fur, too.

So, it's slow and meticulous work,
picking it off, thread by thread.

How are you getting on? Yeah,
it's painstaking.

It's literally, well, like you,
tiny, tiny little nicks,

you know, at a time, so not to
damage anything underneath there.

And hopefully, once we get it all
off and clean it,

it will give you a nice surface to
put the new...

The new saddle on.

And there we go.

Meanwhile, the youngest member of
the team

is tackling The Repair Shop's oldest
ever assignment -

the 300-year-old desk.

Having fallen foul of some very
hungry woodworm,

Will's had to completely rebuild
one corner.

Instead of using, like, a filler to
pack it out then shape it in,

I thought it would be really nice to
use some solid walnut,

glue it back on.

So, that's the new corner there and
that's the old one there.

Would you mind giving me a hand...
No worries.

..sticking the table down there?
OK? That's it.

With a solid corner in place,

Will now has to replicate the
original shape, carving it by hand.

Next, time to unveil his
repaired veneers.

I've glued all the missing bits of
veneer back,

so I'm just checking the masking
tape now

to make sure everything's
dried properly.

The aim is to make the veneer
repairs invisible,

so just one bit of wayward gluing
could spell disaster.

That looks really good. It's all
really solid.

Really happy.

The next item to arrive at
the workshop

belongs to Robert and Tess
from Sussex.

This job calls for the expert eye
and hands

of resident horologist Steve.

Right, OK. Let's have a look
at this.

It's rather nice. It is, it is.

It's very nice. So, tell me, who
does this belong to?

Originally, it was my grandmother's
and then when she died,

my mother inherited it.

And then when Mother died in 2000,
I inherited it.

And, I mean, Mother's cherished it
all her life.

You know, it's one of her things
that really meant a lot to her.

Right. So, you know, I couldn't
part with it.

This is a reproduction made in
Victorian times

of a Louis XVI clock.

So, what's your earliest memory of
the clock?

I can remember as a small child when
I used to go and visit Granny,

bearing in mind a very
Victorian lady...

Right. ..where small children should
be seen and not heard,

being told to sort of stand away and
look at it

and not to touch it in case you
damage it.

So, consequently, I've always been a
little bit wary of it.

But, I mean, it used to have a
lovely chime.

Has it been working all that time?
No, no.

My mother did get it working
in the mid-60s,

but unfortunately, I think it
got overwound.

It's never worked since.

OK. People always think there's such
a thing as overwinding a clock,

but there's not, unless you were to
really force the last click

at it and break the mainspring.

So, whoever it was that wound it,

they're off the hook, they haven't
overwound it.

Oh, well, that's all right. That's
a relief, anyhow.

CLOCK CHIMES DULLY

So, there is some life there,
which is good. Yes.

If you'd like to leave it with us,
I'll overhaul the movement,

get it all looking absolutely
beautiful for you.

I will polish that up

and then I will put a coating of
shellac lacquer on it

and that will just protect it.

Like the nail varnish shellac?

I don't know anything about nail
varnish, sorry.

THEY LAUGH

It's going to be lovely to have it
back in pride of place again.

Excellent. Thank you very much for
bringing it in.

Well, thank you. Thank you.

This means an awful lot to me, the
clock, because, I mean,

it's something that, as I say, I've
grown up with all my life.

It's going to be absolutely
brilliant to have it again,

working and everything.

It means too much to me.

What I'm going to do now is just pop
the mechanism out.

With the clock job broken down into
two parts,

the mechanism and the outer case,

Steve can turn his attention to the
ornate marquetry,

known as Boulle work,

which is achieved by layering and
inlaying brass over tortoiseshell.

Late Victorian clocks were built at
a time

when the craftsmen were
just amazing.

All this Boulle work is
absolutely superb.

I feel honoured that I'm working on
bits that real craftsmen have worked

on in the past.

There's the timekeeper.

How are we doing, Steve? This brass
work here has dulled down, and the

whole thing should be shining.

They look great
when they are all done up.

This is the clock that goes in it.

Wow. Now, look at that.

That is heavy, though, isn't it?

Yeah, there's a lot to it. You need
to do your magic on there as well,

don't you? Yeah, the clock,
I need to strip that down,

give it a complete overhaul.

Once I've done that, the movement
will look great as well.

So you will have this done by lunch
time, yeah, do you reckon?

You've got a lot to get on with.

A cup of tea. I know.
You've got to finish your tea.

I'll go and make myself one.

Over on Amanda and Julie's
workbench...

This fiddly bit.

..they are getting to grips
with a much-loved toy.

Julie's task is to make faithful
copies of the elephant's threadbare

accessories. There we go.

Starting with the headdress.

Meanwhile, Amanda's got her hands
full with the elephant's rear end.

His tail's been crudely stitched on,
from a previous repair,

and this part of it here is really
weak, so I've got to really,

really carefully snip it...

..to get it off. But it will look
much better when I've finished.

There you go.

There's his tail,
and this is the piece...

..that we need to repair.

There's a lot of sewing to do.

Then after a good hoovering,
the pamper sessions continue,

reviving the elephant's fur.

Once dry, Amanda can turn
her attention

to reconstructing the trunk.

This piece is going to slide on here
like so.

So the inside here will be all red,

and this part will be the rest
of his trunk,

which kind of curls around,

where they catch their peanuts.

The saddle, I've only got remnants
to go by,

so I'm really having to go freehand
with this, and I'm using the same

style and hopefully the two will
look quite good next to each other.

I'm really pleased
with the colouration.

I think we've managed to not have it
looking too bright, too new.

It's going to look really good
when it's all put back together.

Having repaired 300 years' worth of
wear and tear on the Georgian desk,

it's time for Will to bring the wood
back to its former glory.

The surface is pretty dirty,

and what a difference just cleaning
it with this rag has made.

And I'm not actually using
an abrasive material,

it's just a cloth with a bit
of white spirit

and a bit of turpentine.

That's come up really well.

Once it is polished,
it's going to look wonderful.

I'm sure Nicola's going to be
so pleased with this.

Steve's been renovating
a Victorian Boulle clock

that hasn't ticked
for over 15 years.

So I'm just going to take out
these taper pins.

He's going to break
the clock mechanism

down to its hundreds of components.

I have to check every single
tooth...

..of the clock to make sure
that none of them are bent.

Just one tiny tooth
can halt the whole mechanism.

You get quite used to doing this,

and identifying
even the slightest bend in teeth.

One hour later,
Steve hits the jackpot.

I've actually found a bent tooth.

It would have had a major effect on
the working of the strike mechanism.

Just got to straighten it up, and
that will help the mechanism hugely.

Troublesome cog fixed,

Steve can begin to rebuild
the hundreds of components.

I've just got to a point now where
I can get the mechanism together.

I've cleaned all the clock up,

done it all by hand, I oil it,

and then it should be absolutely
fine then for a good ten years.

And all the wheels
are turning nicely.

It's the first time this clock
has ticked for over 15 years.

That's all set up beautifully,

so I can now proceed in getting

the rest of the clock
back together.

Bear repair team Julie and Amanda
have had their hands full

restoring a 20th-century toy
back to its former glory.

Ready? Yeah. Go. There we go.

I'll call Will about the wheels.

Will? That looks amazing.

Thank you.
That really looks amazing.

The wheel on that side, on
Amanda's side, keeps popping off.

Something to do with the metal?

If Steve can get the wheel back on,
I can wax it.

Fab. I heard my name.

Hello. Hi, Steve.

Ears burning. We need your help.

Go on. We've lost a wheel,
basically.

We haven't lost it,
it's just come off.

Right. But I think this needs to be
flanged out here.

Sorry? Flanged out? Flanged?

Going like that. Yeah.

Ah! Isn't it? Yeah?

Flanged out sounds good to me.

Yeah. Get oil in the wheels as well.

Then I'll just wax them. OK.

Will you make a wheelie good job
of them?

Wheelie good job.
Wheelie good, yeah.

One swift service later,
and Mouse is roadworthy again.

Amanda and Julie have got a final
little surprise up their sleeve.

It looks amazing.

What about... ? Is there any other
detail that you particularly like

about him? Oh, right, you're looking
for a compliment?

Well, you know, just have a little
look and see if there's anything...

Oh, wow. Really, is that a peanut?

THEY LAUGH

It is a peanut, isn't it?

Got a peanut in him.

Now, that's a nice touch.

He didn't have a peanut, though,
did he? No. No. All right.

Just a bit of fun.
That is cool. I do like that.

Let's hope that elephant's
added accessories

meet the approval of owner Pam...

All right at the front?

Yeah, absolutely perfect.

..who has arrived to be reunited
with her childhood companion.

Hi, Pam. Welcome back.

How are you? I'm all right,
thank you.

Good, good. Getting a bit excited.

Are you? I was going to say,
excited, maybe a bit nervous?

Hugely nervous. Oh, bless you.

What's under that cover? Ready?

I think I'm ready. Yes.

Look at you! Look at you.

Sorry. It's all right, it's OK.

It's lovely. He's got tusks.

He's got tusks!

And ears. You all right?

He's wonderful.

Obviously, he's got some new eyes.

They are actually some vintage eyes.

Doesn't it give him character?

Yes. As soon as you put those eyes
in, he comes alive.

Looking at you. I think everyone
here has fallen in love with him.

You can't have him.
He looks proud again, doesn't he?

And he's got a little something to
take home with him.

SHE LAUGHS

You lucky elephant!

I don't know what to say.

I'm just overwhelmed.

It's just so...

It's beautiful.

There you go. I could not believe
what they've done to him.

They truly are wonderful women.

He's still the 1910 elephant
we think he is,

but he's just glorious.

He's been restored,
but he hasn't been spoiled.

Resident horologist Steve has been
working on the ornate case

on a Victorian Boulle clock

which has been dulled through years
of dust and dirt.

So, I've cleaned
all this Boulle work up

with cotton wool and a
brass-cleaning fluid,

and I've lacquered the whole
of the case now

with a shellac-based lacquer.

Don't want to break this glass,
cos that's a real pain to get it cut

the right size.

Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

I really like this part.

And I've just got to line up the...

..the movement.

Need to...just hang the pendulum on,

see if it is ticking nice
and evenly.

Perfect. The pendulum will actually
regulate the speed of the tick.

That's why a pendulum is critical
to a clock, because it actually does

regulate the speed of the clock.

So I've just got to pop the gong on
now, make sure that's all set up,

and then it's all done.

Apart from testing it.

The final job, making sure
the evocative sound of the strike

has been brought faithfully
back to life.

VIBRATING RINGING

HE LAUGHS
Does sound awful.

There's something vibrating.

I'll have to suss
why that's doing that.

Just going to...move the gong block
slightly.

Hopefully, that's going to stop
that noise from happening.

But time is ticking away for Steve.

Owner Robert is on his way
to collect

his mother's cherished clock.

This is Tessa.
How are you doing, Tessa?

Hello. Good. Thank you.
Come for your clock, right?

Yes. In you come, then.

Darling. Steve.

Have you got the clock? I have.

Ooh...

There we go.

Right. Do you remember
what it looked like before?

It had lacked its lustre
on the outside.

Right. It wasn't working.

It wasn't working? OK. Let's have
a look what you've done, Steve.

SHE GASPS

Oh, my God.
How's that? It's beautiful.

Oh, my goodness!

Hasn't it come up well?
That's exquisite.

It's got a lovely shine to it.

It's wonderful. It
must have taken you hours.

It took me a fair while.
HE LAUGHS

Yeah. It's absolutely fantastic.

So, what would Mum think of this
now, then?

Mum would be absolutely lost
for words, completely.

She'd have loved to have seen this.

So, the strike, that means
it's going to make a noise? It is.

Robert last heard this chime
over 15 years ago.

CHIMES TUNEFULLY

That's lovely. Oh.

It's got a lovely tone.

Can we have a look at the back?

Of course you can.

Look!

- Oh, my.
- Look at that.

Looks almost as if it's brand-new,
Steve.

You're fantastic.

Words can't say how pleased I am.

Do you know, it makes what I do
so worthwhile

when people like yourselves
appreciate what I've done.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much
for bringing it in.

That was a real pleasure to do.

Don't go and drop it now, will you?

It'd be typical!
THEY LAUGH

My thoughts are really how much
Mother would appreciate

how beautiful it looks, cos,

I mean, she would have never seen it
like that,

in all her life, as she knew it.

Steve's work may be done
for the day,

but Will's still toiling away
on the 300-year-old desk.

That's looking good.
Looks pretty good, doesn't it?

Yeah. It's ready to go.

Nicola's going to be here
any minute.

What about the escutcheon
that's hanging off there?

Hold on. Let me get...
Better hurry up. I'll get some pins.

Back for their desk,
Roger and Nicola.

It'll be very exciting

because I've never seen it looking
like it should.

I wanted very much to pass it
on to the next generation...

..looking loved,
rather than knocked about.

Hi. Hello.

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

Hi, how are you?
Nice to see you again.

Come in. Ready for this? Oh, yes.

Excited. Yes. In you go.

Is that it, hiding under there?

Ready?

Wow.

Oh, my goodness. That's wonderful.

The colours, it's so much richer,
so much deeper.

Yeah.

I don't believe it!

The top was so dead,
and you've got the colour back.

And I've replaced that corner
with solid walnut.

I can't believe...

..that it's the same desk.

I can't get over how good it is,

how good it feels.

It's beautiful.

You've done an amazing job.

I can't tell you how pleased I am.

Well done, Will.

So, what would Mum think of it
in its current state now, then?

What do you think? I don't think
she'd recognise it.

And most importantly,

we will be passing it down
the family in a better state

than when it came to us. When it
came to you. Thank you ever so much.

Thank you. It's all Will.
Will did all the work. Thank you.

Bye-bye.

I'm amazed at how wonderfully
it has come up.

The result that Will managed to get

is quite beyond
what I'd ever imagined.

You'd never know anything had ever
been wrong with it.

I'm absolutely over the moon
with it.

Join us next time as more items
are given a new lease of life...

Wow! ..in The Repair Shop.