Welcome to The Repair Shop,
where cherished family heirlooms are brought back to life...
This is the workshop of dreams.
..home to furniture restorer Jay Blades.
Nowadays, everybody spends a fortune on stuff.
Once it's broken, they just bin it.
But everybody has something that means too much to be thrown away.
And that's where we come in.
Working alongside Jay will be some of the country's
leading craftspeople.
Every piece has its own story.
It's amazing to think that some of my work becomes part of that story.
I've always played with things, I've always repaired things,
and I just love it. There is a real pleasure in bringing people's pieces
back to life again.
Each with their own unique set of skills...
Right tool for the right job.
..they will resurrect, revive...
Come on, man! ..and rejuvenate...
..treasured possessions
and irreplaceable pieces of family history...
Wow! She's fantastic!
..bringing both the objects... SHE GASPS
This is what I remember.
..and the memories that they hold...
Wow! ..back to life.
Oh, my God!
In The Repair Shop today,
some unusual methods in the restoration of a piece of military history...
I think if we are going to try and clean it,
let's go with something like a baby shampoo.
..while horologist Steve turns his hand to repairing
a rare antique clockwork toy.
The actual bottom jaw doesn't work at the moment,
so I'm just going to hopefully pop out the unit.
I feel like a veterinary surgeon doing this.
The first visitor to arrive at The Repair Shop is Amelia McNeely,
carrying an item of huge sentimental value.
Hi. Hello. How are you doing? Good.
You must be... Amelia. Amelia. Nice to meet you. I'm Jay.
You all right? Yeah, good! So, what have we got in here, then?
My granny's treasure chest.
I'm a bit embarrassed about the state...
But... This is definitely...
Will. If you don't mind, sir. Come and join us.
Will Kirk's woodwork expertise is required for this treasure chest,
which holds cherished childhood keepsakes.
So, when you say it's granny... How come you've got this?
Yeah, it does sound like there's lots of... Lots of treasure.
Might be granny's gold in there. My granny, when I was seven...
OK. ..gave it to me. It was her treasure chest
she got when she was seven.
My granny was very, very important to us.
She came to live with us for a while, and now I want to pass it on
to my granddaughter. Right.
And she's eight, so I've missed a year.
So, Will...
I heard the intake of breath.
THEY LAUGH
You said it's missing a leg.
We might have some pieces... And I think there's a scroll...
Yeah, so we're missing an entire scroll, there.
But in the top drawer, there are some bits...
Shall I have a little peek? Yeah. Go for it.
There's loads of stuff in there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There's treasure in there!
Treasure, yeah. You wouldn't happen to have an entire
missing scroll from there? No. No. I don't think so.
OK. No. I know it won't be perfect but if it could stand up straight...
That would help. That will mean it will last another generation.
Another generation, exactly. So, thank you for bringing it in. Jay, thank you so much.
You're more than welcome. Thank you for coming. Bless you!
THEY LAUGH Thanks. Thanks a lot.
Bye, then. Bye-bye.
This restoration is going to test all of Will's woodworking skills.
So, this treasure chest is in a bit of a bad state.
The scroll on the left side had previously been broken
and glued back. It's not a great job.
However, the fact that they have glued it on has probably prevented
that from getting lost. So, you know...
..every cloud, I suppose.
So, we have a mixture of structural damage and cosmetic damage.
I mean, like, the back of the drawer, broken.
The drawer divider, broken.
There's a big split running down the side, here.
Yeah, it's in a bad state.
So, I'm going to get some glue in there, clamp that up.
Whilst that is drying,
I can then start looking into that scroll because that's probably
the first thing that I'm quite worried about,
and quite nervous to tackle.
Next at The Repair Shop, it's a family affair.
Cousins Fiona Porter and Janette Scott
have brought with them a highly unusual item from their childhood,
for the attention of clockwork expert Steve.
Right, what have we got in here?
A rabbit in a cabbage. A rabbit in a cabbage?
Right. Now, I have seen these rabbits before.
I've never actually handled one.
Right. So, the rabbit comes out and turns its head?
A little bit, yes. It'll come out, turn its head a little bit,
the music will play...
Oh, the music plays? Yes. Right, so there's a musical box in there.
It's a musical rabbit. Tell me about the history of this piece.
Well, it belonged to our grandmother,
and I think when our mums were younger,
they were allowed to play with it...
Yeah. ..when they were ill, as a very special treat. Oh, I see. Yes.
So, when was the last time you remember this being played with?
Well, I played with it in the '50s,
maybe early '60s. And that's the last I saw of it.
Right, OK. Then I was clearing my mother's bungalow after she'd moved
into a care home, and to my amazement,
found the rabbit in a paper bag, and was thrilled to find it.
That must have meant a lot to you.
Yeah. Absolutely. In fact, I was so excited when Fiona told me, I said,
"Let's have a rabbit dinner
"and we'll show my new granddaughter this wonderful piece of history
"from our family." And we got the rabbit out of the bag,
hadn't seen it for years. Fiona wound it up with great excitement,
and it did absolutely nothing.
Major anti-climax.
Steve's going to need help with this item.
Amanda, Julie...
Soft toy restorers Julie and Amanda are used to dealing
with weird and wonderful toys.
We've been itching to come and have a look. We thought you'd never ask.
So, what do you think of this?
Beautiful. Have you ever seen anything like this before?
No, we've heard of them but we've never actually seen them.
This looks in quite good condition.
Amazing. What's this fur?
Is it real fur? Yes.
Probably rabbit. Oh, really?
It's probably rabbit, yeah.
This is going to be a very interesting job.
And I can't wait to get it going.
Thank you very much.
Thank you. Bye.
Bye-bye now. Thank you.
This is made of cardboard, look.
That's amazing. Yeah.
And I think, look... Is it two parts? It is in two parts.
So, this probably needs stripping off so that we can get this part off
so I can get to the mechanism.
OK. I think that's the way it was constructed.
OK. With dozens of cabbage leaves to unpick
before Steve can sort out the rabbit's clockwork mechanism,
Amanda and Julie set to work.
There's no easy way around this.
We're just going to have to sit and gently, gently pick.
Yeah, OK. And hopefully by the time we finish,
it's going to look more like a cabbage and less like a sprout.
Yes. OK.
The rabbit was a creation of the renowned French toymaker
Roullet & Decamps,
dating back to the 1890s.
Extremely rare and highly collectable,
these delicate creatures are almost extinct.
So, Amanda and Julie are going to have to take great care
with this one.
STEAM HISSES
Meanwhile, Will is working on the antique treasure chest,
starting with the legs, which are riddled with woodworm.
Woodworm are absolute pests.
I could glue this back on, however, I mean,
it's really pointless gluing a piece of sponge
back onto solid wood. It's never going to stay on there.
It's going to end up breaking off again.
So what I might do is chop that off there and just replace anything
that's completely broken and completely chewed up.
So, the next thing I need to do
is to make a template, and I'm going to use this leg over here...
..to start mapping it out.
So, I'm really pleased with that.
That is a pretty decent fit.
I'm going to get some glue in there, tape it up.
I've got one more leg to do.
So, only halfway through my journey.
Next to arrive at the workshop is Paul Entwistle,
clutching a tarnished treasure,
a job for metalwork conservator Matthew Boultwood.
Hello. Hello.
I'm Steve. Hi, how do you do?
I'm Paul. Hello, Paul.
I'm Matthew. Matthew, nice to see you.
Right, so what have we got?
Well, I've got here...
..a Household Cavalry helmet...
..that belonged to, I believe, my great-grandfather.
OK, and what sort of age is that?
My great-grandfather enlisted in 1866, so 150 years...
Gosh! ..ago.
In actual fact, the family military history goes back before the helmet.
And, in actual fact, I'm the first of five generations
that hasn't had a job in the military. But, you know,
this being part of the family history is really, really important.
This is quite a mammoth task, isn't it?
There's quite a lot of work to do in this one.
This is going to be an interesting object because the process
will reveal more information. OK.
And we'll all be learning as we go as to what kind of finish we can
achieve on it but it will definitely look better than this.
It will be lovely to see it bright and shiny as it was when it was worn
and I'm sure worn proudly.
And it will take pride of place at home. And be handed down
to my son and hopefully future generations.
Thank you very much for bringing it in. That's lovely,
thank you very much. Smashing. That's great. Bye-bye.
Gosh. That's a big job.
Yes.
Paul's great-grandfather was an officer in the Lifeguards,
one of the oldest regiments in the British Army.
Part of the Household Cavalry,
they've been protecting the sovereign for over three centuries.
Yes!
To have any chance of doing this piece justice,
first Matt's going to have to strip it down completely.
And there we go. Now you can start to see
what the original surface would have been like.
We're starting to get some of the silver,
some of the original colouring.
This is a beautiful thing.
Will is making a start on recreating the decorative scroll
on top of the treasure chest.
He's got to transform this solid, square piece of wood
into an elegant curve.
So now that I've got my centre point,
I'm going to put the wood in the lathe
and slowly start turning that shape that I need for the top.
So, I'm slowly just taking off those...
..sharp edges.
So, as you can see, the more that I take off,
the more the chisel is hitting those high edges...
..and the wood is becoming more cylindrical.
Yeah, that's absolutely perfect.
So, I've previously measured the width of the scroll on top of the
treasure chest, with these callipers.
And I'm using these now to make sure that I'm not taking off more wood
than I need to.
Will runs a hole through the cylinder using a pillar drill.
Then carefully cuts away one edge to meet the centre.
Sanding gives the new scroll a perfect finish.
I'm really happy with that.
That isn't actually too far off, is it?
Across the workshop, Steve's endeavouring to remove the clockwork
toy rabbit from its cabbage home.
Now the real challenge is about to begin,
to bring this 120-year-old bunny back to life.
So, how are you getting on with Fiona's rabbit, Steve?
Yeah, good. What I'm doing is I'm just going to remove this part
of the shell. Yeah. So I can get to the mechanism.
There we go. And then we've got all the mechanism in there.
Oh, wow!
So, what's next, then, Steve?
I've just got to suss out exactly how it works and then why it's not
working. And also the music box as well.
I've got to make that work. So just a few bits.
Just a few bits, yeah. OK.
But before Steve can start on the clockwork,
there's another job for Amanda and Julie.
I can't get to the mechanism because the fur's on.
OK. I know what he's going to ask.
Can you de-fur it?
Yeah...
Skin it! Skin the rabbit.
Oh, mate. OK. Is that all right? There's no way I can work on it
until... We'll do our best.
Amanda and Julie's job is complicated by the network of
strings attached to the mechanism.
So, if I can just grab a bit of fur there on that side.
I think when Steve said could we get the fur off,
I didn't realise there was going to be all this going on underneath.
No.
That looks fantastic. Well done.
After taking his item apart, Matt has made a start on restoration.
The Lifeguard's helmet had been neglected for decades.
And, as a result, it's extremely tarnished.
How are you getting on with it?
Having a lovely time. I've started doing some of the trial cleanings
and it's definitely coming up as a brass.
There's quite a heavy sort of corrosion on there.
There is, isn't there? I don't know whether you want to use a clock
cleaning fluid that I've got.
It's for cleaning up brass, steel and what have you,
but it will bring out the brass bright.
Because I think that's several days' work, doing that.
Yeah, this is a new process. That would be really good. OK.
Good.
With Steve overseeing Operation Clean-up,
Matt can turn his attention to another part of the helmet
that's in dire need of some grooming.
This is supposed to be a white horsehair plume...
Oh, wow! ..that comes out of the top of this helmet.
Yeah. It wasn't looked after very well and I'm quite concerned
that if we wash it, we're going to lose quite a lot of it.
OK. I think if we're going to try and clean it,
let's go with something like a baby shampoo.
It was designed for hair. Yes. It's very mild.
Let's see if we can get it a bit cleaner.
So, if we just do it very carefully...
Certainly wouldn't want to wring it and squeeze it.
Let's just sort of gently agitate it, really.
It's very fragile. Leave it with me.
I'll carry on with it. Thank you.
That's great. Thank you very much. Bye. Bye.
Matt can now give the grimiest part his full attention -
the top section of the helmet.
The decades in damp storage have left it smothered with green rust.
Takes quite a lot of effort and it's quite time-consuming.
But I can see in the oil slightly more of that green coming off.
As the dirty patina clears, it slowly reveals the metal beneath.
Once you cut through the green...
..we've actually got a silver service underneath here.
Just a long process of cleaning now.
Back inside The Repair Shop,
Will is nearing the end of his treasure chest renovation.
He's working his way through the myriad of smaller jobs,
like fixing the tiny drawers,
before returning to the scroll on top of the chest.
The last thing I need to do is to colour-match to match the other side
and I've been putting it off because I'm slightly dubious
whether I can get the same colour match.
But, yeah, I'm about to give it a go.
This black going on here now is starting to come together.
It's only one thin coat of polish now.
It definitely needs a few more to get that nice, smooth, even finish.
And I can almost see the finish line.
Amelia had brought her treasure chest to The Repair Shop,
as the years had left it in a rather sad condition.
With over 100 years' worth of family treasures held in the chest,
Amelia's hoping Will has secured its future for generations to come.
Hi, Will.
Hi, Amelia.
Lovely to see you again. Good to see you again.
Oh, what...?
It's like Christmas.
I'm hoping.
Well, shall we have a look and see if it's in a better place?
Don't... Yeah?
WHISPERS: Oh...
Thanks.
That's terrific.
Wow! You really have worked magic, haven't you?
Oh!
That's amazing. Oh, my hands are shaking.
That's ridiculous.
Will, that's amazing, thank you so much.
You've done... That's just terrific.
Thank you so much.
It was a real pleasure to work on, actually.
Oh, dear. I didn't think it would do this to me.
SHE EXHALES DEEPLY
Thank you. Really, really thank you.
It's a pleasure. Bless you.
Thank you for coming down. It's over to you.
Don't drop it. Don't drop it! Don't drop it.
Cheers. Thanks a lot, Amelia. Bye.
I know that treasure chest meant a lot to my granny.
She entrusted it to me, and to be able to get it back in one bit,
to be able to hand on the treasure chest is just amazing.
And I didn't realise it would hit me quite in that way.
Wonderful surprise. Fantastic.
Over on Steve's workbench,
he's grappling with a vintage toy rabbit that hasn't so much
as twitched for years.
The actual bottom jaw doesn't work at the moment
so, I'm just going to...
..hopefully, pop out the unit.
I feel like a veterinary surgeon doing this.
All right, that's good.
That came out very easily.
You see, this is the string that actually operates the bottom jaw.
The spring here that's supposed to bring the jaw back to closed
is absolutely rotten.
As well as the metal bar that goes through it is very, very rusty.
I just need to pop a new bar on there
and make a new spring up for it.
There we go.
Just need to pop that down in there.
And this piece of brass will go through the spring...
..like so. That spring is working fine now.
While Steve fine-tunes the clockwork mechanism,
Amanda and Julie are bringing life back to the dead cabbage leaves.
I'm really pleased with how the form of the crinkles
is kind of coming back. Yeah. Each little pleat by hand.
I think the main thing is that when we do put it all back together
again, they will have a sort of perky look.
Yeah. When we come to do the main leaves,
that we might have to do as we're reassembling it. Yeah.
How are we doing? How are you getting on
with my little furry friend, then? Look at this.
MECHANISM PLAYS MUSIC
You're a clever bunny, ain't you?
So, this little lever here...
Right. ..that's opening and shutting the mouth.
OK. What's this doing?
Is that the head? That's the head, yeah. OK. And it comes up,
has a good look around, then goes up and it starts eating
and then goes down again.
All right. So, where's the head, though?
I've got it here. OK.
It's got no ears, though.
Do that again. You took your finger away then.
I don't want it biting me, do I?
OK. So there's two strings.
One for the ears. Yeah.
And one for the mouth.
All right. So, as soon as I attach this to there, like that,
then Julie and Amanda can then re-fur him... Right.
..and put the ears on.
And then they can rebuild the cabbage.
OK. And then it's done.
Well done. I'm happy with that.
It's been all hands on deck
in the restoration of the Lifeguard's helmet.
I mean, look at that water.
We've definitely taken some dirt out of it.
But with this military heirloom still looking dull and tarnished,
there's hours of cleaning and polishing left
to restore it to its full dress parade condition.
Hoping to see his heirloom looking as it would have
when his great-grandfather wore it, owner Paul has returned.
Hi, Paul. Hi, how are you?
Yeah, nice to see you. Nice to see you again. Lovely to see you.
OK. Are you looking forward to this?
Very much so. Yeah.
Are you ready? Yes.
Wow!
That's not the same helmet!
That...
I don't know what to say. That's magnificent!
That's exactly as it would have been 150 years ago.
I'm dumbstruck.
I might try and wear it.
When was the last time it was on display like this?
Probably on Horse Guards Parade.
Oh, right.
Do you know, I can't thank you guys enough.
This is going to take me some time to...
..to get over this. Well...
Yeah...
Can I?
Yeah.
There was sort of decades of polish and dust
and muck in the lettering, obscuring it all.
I suppose it would have been cleaned by the man himself.
Oh, absolutely, yes... Would have had to have been cleaned.
Couldn't have gone on parade with a dirty helmet. ..meticulously.
Yes.
I wish my father was alive to see this.
Amazing. Thank you very much.
HE EXHALES
The 19th-century toy rabbit is nearing completion.
Have you finished it?
Just literally... Just about.
..just finishing it off.
That's looking absolutely fantastic.
Well done. And it actually looks like a cabbage now.
Not a sprout.
THEY LAUGH
MUSIC BOX PLAYS
That gets me.
It's great, isn't it? It is working really well, isn't it?
Really, really well. Great team effort.
Yeah, definitely teamwork.
And the cabbage is fantastic.
I'm really impressed.
Really, really impressed. Thank you. We're really pleased.
It's time for this rare and extremely collectable bunny
to be sent back home to owners Fiona and Jeanette.
When they discovered the rabbit six years ago,
they threw a party that went flat when he wouldn't come out to play.
Today, they're having a second
and, hopefully, more successful party in his honour.
We'd like to share our repaired bunny with my granddaughter, Freya.
So, she's never seen the bunny working.
And we can barely remember it.
So, we're hoping that our bunny
sandwiches and our bunny cakes are going to help the bunny work.
With a bit of luck!
Looking forward to seeing the fruits of Steve,
Julie and Amanda's labours is Jeanette's granddaughter, Freya.
Oh! Wow!
He does look fluffier.
Now, when you saw this last time, it didn't do anything.
Shall we see what happens?
Are you feeling excited?
Well done. Oh, wow!
Look at that!
Look what it's doing!
Whoa! Shot back in really quickly.
That's really clever, isn't it?
Oh, he's having a look at you.
How lovely that, after all these years, he's back working again.
He's funny. He's funny?
He is funny, isn't he?
I think he's just brilliant.
That was amazing.
I was really impressed that that worked.
I was a bit worried that, you know, something might happen
and we'd get a rabbit back that was silent.
But it was brilliant. Wound it up and...
Really amazing. I never thought we'd get it working again.
So, it's absolutely amazing to have it back working.
It's excellent. And to see the look on Freya's face.
It's wonderful to think that her great-great-grandchildren
will be able to play with it. Yeah. And enjoy it.
Join us next time as more items receive the Repair Shop treatment...
There's bits missing, broken... ..and get a new lease of life.
Oh, wow! Look, it's moving.