05x18 - 200-Year-Old Fire Bucket

[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!

It's 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...

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...

SHE GASPS

..the memories...

Yes!

..and unlock the stories
that they hold.

It's touched my heart.

It's amazing.

In The Repair Shop today...

Ah, lovely.

..Will cracks the code to a box
brought back

from an overseas w*r assignment.

That slides that way,
and that slides up.

And that's usually where
you tuck the key inside.

..and a rescue operation
on a 200-year-old fire bucket...

I'm a little worried.

I'm a little bit terrified,
actually.

..leaves Suzie feeling the heat.

I'm looking at this thinking,
"How am I going to do this?"

But first, a tale of gold mining,
and a 9,000 mile journey.

Paul Weeks, accompanied by his
fiancee, Angela,

is hoping goldsmith Richard Talman
can repair a small

but very precious family heirloom.

Hi.

Hello.

I'm Jay.

I'm Angela. Pleased to meet you.

Hi, Jay. Paul.
All right, Paul.

So, what's in the loveheart?

It's the gold ring.

Unfortunately, as you can see...

Oh!
..currently in two pieces.

So, basically, it's 170 years old.

It was my great-great-grandfather's
ring.

He emigrated to Australia, aged 20.

He left... What year was that? 1849.

1849, OK.
He'd been married for three days.

Why did he go to Australia?

Apparently to find his fortune.

Find his fortune?

We think as part of the Australian
gold rush of the 1850s. Oh, OK.

So he then went prospecting,

and the ring was made from
the first nuggets that he found.

Was it?! If you look at it,
it tells its own story.

On one side, it has a shovel.
OK.

The other side has a pick,

but the handle of the pickaxe
is missing.

He came back in 1862,
and brought the ring back.

With his missus? Yeah.
OK, that's good.

So the ring was then passed down
to his son,

and then through to my grandmother,

my mother, and then to me.

So my mother passed it to me
on my 18th birthday

with strict instructions
to look after it.

And I put on one day and thought,
hmm, it didn't feel very tight

and it just broke on the shoulder
into two. Yeah.

So then I had the enviable task
of explaining to my mum,

and she was not happy.

So I did promise her
that I would get it repaired.

So how long has this been broken,
then?

40 years.
40 years?!

The last time it was on my finger,
I was 18.

So if Richard's able to repair this,
what are you going to do with it?

What I would like to do is to
wear it on special occasions.

So Angela and I plan
to get married next year.

Yes. Congratulations.
Thank you very much.

So, for my wedding day.
Yes.

Sounds like that could be a special
occasion! Yes, exactly.

So that would be great timing.
Only waited ten years for that.

You've waited ten years?!
Yeah.

It's all right. The ring's waited
40 years! Exactly.

No pressure, Richard.

No pressure whatsoever!
But thank you for trusting us.

Can't thank you enough
for bringing it in.

Thank you, Jay. Thank you.
Much appreciated.

Thank you so much.
It's in safe hands.

Take care now. Bye. Bye-bye.

Hopefully he will be able
to rejoin it

and have it as it would have been
and should be,

and hopefully as good as it was when
it was first made 170 years ago,

would be absolutely incredible.

Now, Rich, how are you going
to repair something so delicate

and beautiful as this, eh?

Well, I'm going to be gas
soldering it, using a gold solder.

Soldering's going to bring it
together? Absolutely, yes.

What about all the detail on there?

You're going to have to add some
detail. I am indeed, yes.

The pickaxe handle
has gone missing.

We're going to relay that back in.

You're going to have to make
this bigger, though, haven't you?

Because looking at Paul's fingers
now compared to when he was 18,

must be bigger.
Absolutely. Yes.

So, what I'm going to have to do
is expand it

to what would now be
his finger size.

It sounds like... For a little ring,
it sounds quite a lot

you're going to do. But this is
going to mean the world to Paul.

Thanks very much.
Nice one, Rich.

Although ultimately Richard will be
adding more gold to this ring

to expand it,
he must begin its restoration

by soldering the two original halves
back together

in order to calculate how much
he needs to enlarge it.

So, I'm just going to start to
ease this round...

..to get the right shape,

and offering it up to each other.

I'm going to be soldering it
in a doming block.

I'm using a propane flame,
which I'm going to need to get

the ring up to about 1,000 degrees
in order for the solder to melt.

I'm happy with that.

It's soldered,
and it hasn't fallen apart.

So now it's time to get a true
measurement of the finger size

that it currently is

so I know how much metal to use
to size it to Paul's finger size.

One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven sizes!

HE SCREAMS UNDER HIS BREATH

So the ring is currently
a size S.

When we measured Paul's finger
earlier, he's a size Z.

That's a fair old piece of metal
I've got to put on it,

which is going to make the diameter
of the ring slightly larger.

So I've got to hope that
the structure of the ring

is up to the increase of size
which I'm about to subject it to.

Next into The Repair Shop,

a beautiful memento
of a wartime adventure.

Emily Ray is hoping antiques
restoration expert Will Kirk...

Hello. Hiya. Hi, there.

..can breathe new life into
another precious family heirloom.

Nice to meet you, too.

So what have we got
in the bubble wrap there?

In here, this is my grandad's
jewellery box

that he bought in Italy
just after World w*r II.

That is lovely.
Let me take that.

My grandad was in the Royal
Engineers in World w*r II,

and he landed on D-Day Beach.

And, all we know that he was
in Italy in around 1947

still in the Royal Engineers,
and that's where he bought this box.

How come you've got the box, then?

So, my nan's had it up in the loft
for the last 30, 40 years. Right.

And my nan, bless her, she's been
on about getting it repaired

for years now.

How did the box
get into this condition?

So my mum was a bit mischievous
when she was younger,

and her and her brother definitely
had some fun with it.

My gosh. Yeah.
They really went to town.

Yeah, they did. Yep!

One piece.

JAY CHUCKLES

Nearly two, three pieces here.

And you're missing a piece there.
OK.

I think... So there's a lock there.

Have you got the key?

No.
No.

But at the moment...

I mean, it's not really
locking anything, is it?

No.

So what would you like
Will to do to this, then?

I've only ever seen it like this,
so it'd be really nice

to get it back to how it was
when my grandad bought it.

So we feel like it's got
a bit more life in it.

So what type of man
was your grandfather, then?

Oh, he was amazing.

He was a big family guy.

He put everyone before himself.

He was so generous and loving.

We were like two peas in a pod.

I used to follow him around.

I was like his little shadow and we
used to do everything together.

He was my... I suppose he was like
my father as well,

because I come from
a single parent family.

My childhood is just full
of so many lovely, happy memories

thanks to him.

That's nice. Yeah. So, if we're able
to repair this... Yeah.

..what are you going to do with it?

I'm going to give it back to my nan
to use as a jewellery box.

All right.
It hasn't been used since the 1960s,

so it'd be really nice for my nan
to have somewhere

to store her jewellery.
Yeah.

And then eventually,
it'll pass down to me,

and we'll keep it in the family.

I've got some nice jewellery bits,
like my lockets.

That your locket? OK.

Yeah, my grandad bought this for me
just before my 18th birthday.

He passed away
just a few days before it.

So I have a picture of him
and my mum inside.

Can we see it?
Course you can, yeah.

There we go.
Wow.

My mum passed away two years ago.
Oh, did she? Yeah.

So, it's just me and my nan now.
You and your nan.

So, they go with me wherever I go,
so...

That's nice. Emily, thank you
for bringing this in.

Thank you very much.
You take care, now.

I think the jewellery box has been
something my nan's wanted repaired

for years and years and years now,
and I think because my nan's

getting older, I'll be excited to
get done, for her,

and in honour of my grandad as well.

I hope my nan thinks
I'm Granddaughter of the Year

after this!

Will wastes no time getting to work.

Lovely.

But as he begins to dismantle
the little box...

We don't want you any more.

..it reveals something
rather intriguing.

So I've worked on a couple
of these before,

and I know that the base has a
secret compartment on the inside.

Now that I've knocked it apart,

it's actually freed up this sliding
mechanism on the front.

That slides that way,

and that slides up,

and that's usually where
you tuck the key inside.

I doubt that Emily knows that,

so if I can glue this back properly,
it'd be nice to have a key,

and I can give her
a bit of a surprise.

I'm putting some clamps on here

that'll help to squeeze out
any excess glue

and hold everything in place
whilst it dries.

While Will puts his assignment
back together...

..goldsmith Richard is about to
start breaking his apart.

Now that the ring is
perfectly round,

we can look to increase
the finger size,

and to do that we've actually got to
cut straight back

in the position
where I started again.

You may think,
well, that is pointless,

cutting where you've already cut,

but unless it was
all soldered solid,

we wouldn't have been able to find
out the correct finger size.

Just easing it.

I've now got this ring
at a finger size Z,

which has given me this gap here.

Eight millimetres.

You can't buy 22-carat in these
bullion bars that we would buy,

so we've had to use some fine grain
here, and I need to melt that up.

I'm pouring it onto
a charcoal block here.

It's charcoal pretty much
in the same way as would be used

for a barbecue.

As the gold melts
up into its liquid point,

it draws into a button,
into a sphere.

It's at that point
it won't melt any further.

And now we can start
forming it with a hammer

to get it into the shape we need.

As you can see, 24-carat,
it is so soft.

Now I need to take
this nugget of fine gold,

and make the cut-in piece
to complete the circle.

How are you getting on, Rich?

Yeah, getting on well.

There's a massive gap in there,
mate!

Well, the finger size was too small.

We need to now expand it to the same
size as his finger as it is now.

How are you going to do that?
Taking a piece of metal.

So that's going to go in there?
It will do.

How are you going to get that
into there, then?

By using this.

So you just adjust the gauge.
Right.

Put it into the centre.
OK.

And manually wind it...

..and it comes out the other side
slightly thinner.

You just keep repeating it.

So you're only adjusting
by a really small amount.

0.1 of a millimetre.

So I could be here for a couple
of days, then, couldn't I? Could be.

Unless you hurry up.
JAY LAUGHS

Now that is proper flat.

That's all right, isn't it?

So what else have you got
to do with this, then?

Just got to put a curve
onto this piece of metal. OK.

And solder it into the ring.
Right.

Then I've got to just replace
the pickaxe handle.

So you've not got too much, then?

Little bit more to go yet.
OK!

I'll let you know when it's done.
All right, nice one. No problem.

So this doming punch,

when used in conjunction
with the swage block,

almost forms a stamp when it's hit

to make the piece of metal
the correct curvature.

There, now we have
the correct curvature.

With the new piece of gold
now made to measure,

Richard adds gold solder
to fuse it into place.

When soldering pieces like this,

it's important to make sure that the
flame heats up both sides of metal

in absolutely precise proportions.

If it doesn't, and one side
gets hot too quick,

the solder will leap over to that
side and the bond won't be achieved.

There we go.

So now I've got to fix this
very, very small piece of gold

- it's less than
one millimetre square -

to replicate the handle
of the pickaxe.

Using a fine cutting burr,
a tool also used in dentistry,

Richard creates a tiny groove,
ready to house the gold filling.

Now, this is going to be
a pretty nervous moment,

because it's the very last bit of
heat I've got to apply to the ring.

I can see it's just about to go,
and...

..the solder has filled.

Take that out and quench it.

That was one of the last points
that I was really concerned about,

so now that I've
got that out the way...

..I can relax a little bit
whilst I finish it.

JAY: It's a horrible day out there.
Yeah. Not good.

I know, but we'll always
need the rain!

Next, not letting the rain
dampen her spirits,

Mary Bird from Weymouth.

Oh, hold on. Let me give you a hand.

There we go.

She's hoping leather expert
Suzie Fletcher can repair

an intriguing historical item
with a very personal connection.

Hello. I'm Suzie.
Hi, I'm Mary.

Nice to meet you, Mary.
I'm Jay. Hi.

All right, Mary? Yeah. So what have
we got in the bag, then?

Let's have a look. We've got
a very old leather fire bucket.

Why have you got a leather bucket?

It belongs to my husband, Mark.

He was given it by his dad, John.

His dad was a firefighter.
OK.

In the stories that Mark's told me,
there was a fire in a pub,

and his dad was given the bucket
as a thank you.

They were all given a bucket
as a reward to say thank you

for your help at the fire.

Thank you for what you've done.
Yeah.

And they were all like this - sort
of broken and mouldy and... Mouldy.

And his dad obviously treasured it.
Yeah.

And then gave it to Mark.

Mark always wanted to be a fireman.

He would have liked to be a fireman
like his dad.

He couldn't get into the Fire
Service because of his eyesight.

His dad passed away
about 12 years ago,

and he was really close to him,
you know. Right.

It's one of the few things he's got
that belonged to his dad.

How come Mark is not here, then?

Because it's a surprise for Mark.

Aww. Whoa, whoa, whoa!
Rewind the tape!

This is precious to Mark.

This is really precious to Mark.

Mark doesn't know
this is out of the house?

He doesn't know.
I've brought it here in secret.

You've put the pressure on
with regards to... Huge!

Yeah, I know. It's quite big.

What would you like Suzie to do
with the bucket, then?

It would be nice if the
handle worked

and it looked like a bucket
again. OK.

That would be nice. All right.

I think it...
I don't know about this bit inside.

Oh, is that part of the bit
that's missing?

I think that fits right on the edge.
Like a jigsaw.

Yeah, we love a jigsaw.

So what do you reckon, Suzie?

I'm a little worried
because I've no...

I've never worked on
a bucket before.

It is in really poor condition.

I'm a little bit terrified,
actually.

I'm looking at this thinking,
"How am I going to do this?"

And it's so important.

It is so important.
No, it is.

I will give it my best shot.

Thank you.

I'll at least try and improve on
what we've got to work with.

Mary, thank you.
Thank you very much.

Thanks so much, Mary. Thanks, Suzie.
We'll be in touch. Take care.

Little bit apprehensive.

Suzie wasn't overly confident.

I feel like I've put quite
a lot of pressure on her,

but I'm confident that they'll be
able to do something with it.

Hopefully get it fixed for Mark.

I just think it'll be really
exciting to see his reaction.

This is a big job, yeah?
This is a huge job.

And please stop touching it!

It's falling apart as well.
Look at this.

Yes, I know.
See, that's what I mean.

It is so fragile,
it's beginning to crumble.

And I'm not sure
how I'm going to approach this.

Things like this rim,
if I was to put my all in there,

I know this is just going to
snap off.

And she wants
the handle reattached.

I've got nothing to attach
it to of any substance.

Again, it...
All of this could just snap off.

Whoa. OK.
Yeah.

I understand now!

Let's get this over to your bench.

Then let me know if there's
anything I can help with. OK.

But is it OK to take it,
or do you want to take it?

Um, yeah. You can take it.

OK!
Thank you!

SUZIE LAUGHS

What I've decided to do first with
the bucket is remove the handle.

I'm hoping I'll be able to keep
the handle as complete as possible,

but it is so fragile,
it is really about to snap.

As I start removing the threads,

that could just completely
fall apart.

Leather fire buckets like this one
date back as far as the 18th century

and were an essential piece
of firefighting equipment.

At the time,

leather was more durable
and lighter than any other material,

and buckets were lined with tar
to hold the water.

They were marked to identify
which house, church or parish hall

they belonged to.

It can be a little awkward
to begin with.

So I'm trying to just gently
rock the scalpel back and forth

to break the threads.

There you go. There goes one.

You don't want to be
too aggressive here.

And let's see
if I've got that completely free.

I can't believe
that came off in one piece.

I think I need to
have a lie down now.

Will's being similarly tested
rebuilding the wartime souvenir box,

complete with secret compartment.

Now that the base is on,
and the sliding mechanism works,

I need to replace these pieces
that have fallen off here.

So I've got some olive wood here.

I'm going to re-carve
the missing pieces.

I don't really carve
much olive wood,

so I hope it's going to play ball.

Oh, that's lovely, isn't it? Look.

This carving gouge is so sharp,

it just cuts through
like a hot knife through butter.

It actually smells like olives.

That's lovely and smooth now.
That should fit like a glove.

Oh, look at that.

I'm going to glue this and the other
pieces onto the front of the box

now. I'm going to be very careful
when glueing it back

that I don't get excess glue
under the middle panel,

because it'll be stuck in place,

and you won't be able
to get into the box.

So I'm going to use some
hot pearl glue here.

Wonderful.

Just going to double check to make
sure that middle one slides freely,

and it does. Look at that.

Lovely.

Now it's down to the fun stuff,
which is the finishing.

The box is decorated
with a delicate painted design,

but before he can touch in
the faded detail on that,

Will must get the surface
back to its original condition.

Always good to start polishing
from a nice clean surface.

I'm going to use some
furniture reviver here.

I like to do a little spot test.

I'm going to clean up
the bird a bit.

You can see how the stuff coming off
on that cotton bud there is grey,

and that means that that's dirt
that it's removing.

If it was brown, and more like
a varnish-y, wood kind of colour,

that means that it's taking off
the finish that I want to keep.

So, I'm satisfied that
the cleaner that I'm using

is just taking off the dirt,

so I can now be a bit more
liberal with my use.

Look at that, as black as anything.

So that's just people touching it,

the collection of dirt
and dust in the air,

but it's coming up
an absolute treat.

You can already see that the blue
in the bird's really coming through,

and the blue in the water.

With the surface now clean, Will can
begin work on accurately

colour matching
his replacement piece.

I'm mixing a tiny bit of brown
pigment powder in with some polish,

and I'm just going to
slowly blend in the colour,

and, erm, make sure that it matches
the surrounding book spines.

One of the trickiest parts
of this job is colour matching.

So the chances of
matching that colour perfectly

the first time round is pretty rare.

Lovely. Now that I've got
the background colour right

on this new piece of wood
on the front of the box,

we'll use a paintbrush
and some black paint

to paint back in
that fine Roman numeral detail.

On the opposite side of the barn,
Richard is on the final stages

of restoring the ring
that was hewn from gold nuggets.

What I need to do now is use some
very fine-grade wet and dry paper,

erm, and a little mixture of water
to make it even smoother still,

and just go over all the
intricate details of the ring,

which will allow
the polishing process

to get it up to
the highest possible shine.

I think it's time to
use the polishing motor

to do the final stages of polish.

I'm happy with how that's come out.

Hopefully Paul will be, too.

This ring started life
9,000 miles away.

It made its way to the repair shop

via four generations
of the Weeks family.

Now, in readiness for their wedding,
Paul and Angela have returned

to see if their priceless heirloom
can be worn again.

Really pleased to be back today,

and looking forward to seeing
how Richard's got on with the ring.

One of the nice things for myself
will be to show my mum, in a way,

that the promise I made to her
all those years ago when I broke it,

that I would repair it.

It's only taken 40 years,
but finally I've managed to do it,

and that will be very special.

Hi. Hello. Hi, there.

Oh, nice to see you again.

How are you doing, Angela? Hello.

You all right? Hi, Richard.
Pleased to see you.

Hi, Richard. Jay. How're you doing?
Pleased to see you again. All right?

Fine, thank you. And you?
We're so excited. Really excited.

We're excited, too.
Shall we show them?

Let's go for it. OK. OK.

THEY GASP

That is absolutely stunning.

My God!

How did you manage to do that?

That is absolutely incredible.

I knew it would be good,

but that is unbelievable.

Shall I try it on?
Yes, please.

So this is a big moment. 40 years.

Let's try it.

Wow.

That...

..means a lot.

I can see that.

Thank you for bringing it in.
Pleasure. Thank you, Jay.

I wish you both
a fantastic wedding and future.

Thank you. You guys take care. Bye.

That's amazing!

Well done, man. Cheers. Well done.

Seeing it for the first time
just was overwhelming,

er, certainly for me.

Certainly, I'm sure, would have
been, er, for my mum as well.

All those years of imagining,
er, the ring as it should be,

and as it could be,

and to see it was, erm, yes,

very emotional for me.

As yet another accomplished repair
is completed,

Suzie is just getting started
on her assignment.

She's managed to secure
the crumbling handle

of the antique fire bucket
with a strengthening leather insert.

Now I've got the handle
glued together,

the next fun job's
going to be stitching it.

I've decided I'm going to
use a drill.

Normally, I would use an awl
to sew pieces of leather together.

You know, pushing an awl through

is going to create stress
on the leather,

and I really honestly don't feel
that this leather can take that.

Let's see how it fares
with needle and thread.

This actually has gone so much
better than I was expecting it.

I've got some flakes
of leather here,

but not nearly as much
as I thought would happen,

so I'm very,
very encouraged by this.

My next port of call
is the rim on this bucket,

and this significant piece
that's come away.

What I'm trying not to do
is detract from what's going on

on the inside here. We've got
this lovely old pitch,

so I don't want to go ahead
and cover the whole thing.

However, I do need to reinforce
the inside of the bucket.

A strip of pigskin leather
will provide internal support.

This really needs to be solid
in its connection.

Even though I've got
the backing piece on,

I want to make sure that it's
absolutely not going to move.

Considering how big of a chunk
that was that came off,

I'm really pleased with
how well that's gone together.

Now I just make a start
on sewing that.

And the more I get in there,

the more secure
the bucket's going to become.

I just have to stitch away.

I've got the rim of the bucket
very stable, very secure,

but what I do want to do
is move on to

tackling the bucket's saggy bottom.

This is a very, very tricky
part of the process,

because the crease, where the
leather has folded, is so fragile,

any pull on it, I could literally
just rip it all off.

To keep the bottom
from collapsing again,

Suzie makes a strengthening insert
to fit inside the base.

I've marked where it needs to go,

so it should fit in quite,
quite easily.

So now I'm going to start working on
each of the individual petals

and glue them to the wall.

I think I've got about 18 petals
to glue into place.

The critical area, here, now.

We have found out that
there actually should be an S here,

so it should spell "Shire".

I've actually been able to
lift that crease up enough

to possibly get that S
painted back in that position,

which I really wasn't sure
that I'd be able to do,

because the fold there was
so extreme.

Really pleased.
Really, really pleased and relieved.

Got the worst of it
over and done with,

and so far, it's looking great.

Feeling similarly fired up,

Will is nearing
the end of his renovation

of the souvenir box
brought back from Italy.

He's rebuilt the box,
complete with secret compartment,

but the lock is broken,
and the key has been lost for years.

But mechanical expert Steve
is always on hand to help.

Hey, Steve.
What have you got there?

Is there any way that
you can unbust this lock

and also make me a key, please?

Oh, my word!
This is really well broken.

But I've brought it
to the right guy, though.

I'll do my best.
Thank you, Steve.

Cheers, mate.

Now I can start tackling some of
this missing paintwork on the top.

Parts of this just
looked like a blue,

but there's yellow ochres
in there, browns.

There's a bit of green as well.

So, it takes a while
to build up the colours

to get to that desired effect.

The lock that Will brought over,
I've been able to find a key.

It was the last one that
I found in the box

and it actually works
an absolute treat.

It's this unit here that's broken.

There's a hole in it.

What I need to do is
just renew that.

Right. That should go in there.

The lock will actually hold now.

Good. I can take that over to Will.

There we go.
Amazing.

That looks almost brand-new, Steve.

Let me know if there's a problem
with it. Will do. OK. Thanks, Steve.

This battered but beautiful box

was brought back from w*r-torn Italy
over 70 years ago

by Emily's grandad.

She's hoping Will's managed
to rebuild it

so she can present it
back to her grandmother.

The jewellery box is so important
to me just because

it's the one tangible thing

we've got from my grandad's time
during the w*r.

And having that sort of item
in our house

just kind of brings back
all the lovely memories of him.

Hello. Hiya! Are you all right?
How are you doing?

Nice to see you again.
Likewise. Nice to see you again.

Are you excited?
Yeah. I cannot wait.

I really can't.
SHE GIGGLES

Let's see it, come on. Yeah?
Yeah. Shall we have a look? Yeah.

SHE GASPS

Oh, my gosh.

That's insane.

JAY LAUGHS

That looks beautif... It looks
like... This is not the same box!

LAUGHTER

It is the same box.

That's gorgeous! Oh, my gosh.

GASPS

Can I open it? Well done.
Yeah, sure! Oh, my gosh.

I can't get over that.

My gosh.

So, I don't know if you know this,

but this is a puzzle box.
Oh, I did not know this.

So, well, you wouldn't,
because it was in pieces.

But there are different
slides and mechanisms,

and there's a key inside.

Which I don't have.
You say you don't have a key, but...

SHE GASPS

..there's a little key inside.
What?!

Oh, my gosh! How do I...?

I don't want to break it
and then end up like...

Just so you don't break it,
I'm going to show you.

LAUGHTER

So, you slide this front spine
that way. Ah, OK.

That there slides up.

SHE GASPS

Where did you get this from?

Steve over there.
THEY LAUGH

It's so cool!

And then, you slide the front
forwards like that,

that slides down.

And then, you put this in.
There's the keyhole.

That's amazing.

So it's an actual working
jewellery box now.

He's good, isn't he?
Yeah! Yeah, you've done all right!

LAUGHTER

I've done all right!

What are you going
to do with it now?

It's my nan's birthday
in a few weeks. Is it?

So, I'm going to wrap it up
and give it to her.

And I want to see her surprised,
like, face.

I want to see her reaction.

My grandad was a carpenter
as well. Yeah.

And he would be absolutely
just amazed by this.

So, Will's passed? Yeah.
Yeah. I passed.

LAUGHTER

OK.

Well, thank you, Emily.
Thank you so much.

You take care now. Thank you.

OK. Cheers. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

JAY LAUGHS

I had absolutely no idea
it was a puzzle box.

I thought it was just
a general jewellery box

that you just opened it closed,
so that's completely blown my mind.

I'm going to forget
how to open it, 100%!

SHE GIGGLES

The box is going to go
back to my nan.

She's going to be absolutely stoked,
she's going to be so amazed.

And then we're just going
to keep it in the family,

and tell tales of my grandad
for years to come.

With the 200-year-old fire bucket
now structurally sound,

attention turns to the chipped
and faded lettering on the outside.

Art conservator Lucia Scalisi
to the rescue.

Hello.
Hi, Suze.

I've got another big favour
to ask you! Oh, oh, wow.

This is huge.

Leather fire bucket.

The problem we see is how much
the leather has been affected

by that paint, and whether
we can actually paint over it.

I say "we", I mean "you",
you do understand that?

LAUGHTER

I think the crest
might be a bit ambitious,

but certainly, maybe just
strengthen some of the lettering

so that it doesn't look brand-new,
but it's a bit more readable.

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

You know what you're doing.
Yes. I hope!

Thank you so much. Thanks a lot,
Suzie. OK, leave it with me.

We know that it said "Shire Hall"

because the Essex Fire Museum told
us that that was where it's from.

Most of that's missing,
but the "Essex" is much clearer.

My first approach is just picking
out a little bit of the shape

of some of the letters.

It just takes time to sort of
build it up, and then take it back,

and build it up and take it back

until you get the right level
with everything.

But it is readable,
so that's quite good.

Suzie.
What have you got?

SHE GASPS

It be done!

It's dry.

Wow.

That is amazing.

And even got an S in there.
Yeah. That's amazing.

Good. I'm pleased.

Yeah. You're impressive!
Wow, thank you.

When Mary brought the fire bucket
to The Repair Shop,

it was in a state of emergency

with fragile leather, missing pieces
and on the brink of collapse.

She needed Suzie's help to repair it
as a surprise for her husband Mark,

as it holds sentimental memories
of his father.

They are here today
under the guise of a first meeting

to assess the damaged bucket.

He thinks I've posted the bucket.

And I was like, "They probably
can't fix it but, hopefully...

"..it's going to be all right,"
and he's going to really surprised!

Hi. Hi. Hello. I'm Suzie. I'm Mark.
Mark, nice to meet you.

It means an awful lot to me,

because I do have very few items
of my father.

It really is quite sentimental to
me, but as it is at the moment,

it's not fit to be displayed
and touched by anybody.

I'm hoping that The Repair Shop
can work some magic on it.

So, let's see what
we've got to work on, shall we?

Oh.

HE SNIFFS

Can I lift it up?

It's yours,
you can do whatever you like.

Look how sturdy it is.
It must have taken you ages.

I just don't own many things at all.

And when he passed away...

So, just to hold it is, um...

..it's very nice.

It doesn't even look like
it's been broken. Thank you.

It doesn't even look like
it's been broken, it looks...

Well-used, but not broken.
..amazing.

Thank you. What a surprise.

And the children kept the secret
so well.

LAUGHTER

Thank you. Oh!

Thank you.

This has been a wonderful pleasure
for us to work on,

and it's now over to you, Mark.
It's yours to take home.

Thank you. OK. A pleasure.
Bye, guys. Thank you.

Bye-bye. Bye! Come on, George.

Let's go.

That was so good. Oh, well done!
You too, that was a really good one.

Well done.
Yeah.

When I saw the bucket
for the first time,

I was a bit overwhelmed.

It was very surprising to see

exactly how brilliant
they'd done with it.

It brought back some memories
of my dad. I remember

my dad handing it to me and saying,
"Look after that for me."

And yeah, that moment there

when I just got handed the fire
bucket, it was something special.

And just thank you very much.
You're welcome.

Join us again...

Do you want to sit down?
I think I need a chair.

..for more impossible renovations...

There's a lot of work here, Jay.
That's a lot.

..and wondrous transformations...

That's absolutely amazing!

..in The Repair Shop.