The Repair Shop

[Woodchips2]

I’ve recently been watching The Repair Shop which is on BBC2 on weekdays from 6.45pm to 7.30pm and have found the series very interesting. It involves renovation experts repairing items of furniture and antiques for the general public. The items include wooden furniture, clocks, ceramics, silverwork, upholstery etc. I watch it generally for the woodwork but find all the renovation work of interest.

Regards Keith

 

[Rockford]

I came across it a couple of weeks ago and am thoroughly enjoying it. I find it a great buffer between work and the rest of my evening - it's quite calming! The variety of items is quite good and the real interest and enthusiasm of the various experts is quite refreshing, not to mention their evident skills. It's much better than the Restoration Roadshow programme that was on a few years ago.

 

[Robbo3]

If only they would keep everything in focus & get the camerman to aim at what the craftsman is doing rather than on his face.

 

[Glynne]

I also like the way that they bring in specialist restorers when something unusual comes in and is beyond the scope of the regulars. I watched one last night (I have the series on record) where they were restoring / repairing an Eames chair and it was fascinating to see someone who specialises in these chairs. I would have liked to see how he re-glued the plywood back (the laminations had a very deep cavity) and where the “replacement” panel came from but nevertheless I really enjoy the programme.

 

[Cordy]

The first couple of instalments I thought quite boring

The recent programs however have my attention and I find interesting

The leather type apron worn by the guy in charge looks interesting

 

[thetyreman]

what annoys me about the programme is they edit in cut scenes of woodworking, but it's actually just upholstering, pottery and a bit of metal work...no woodworking so far, however some of the restorations have been interesting, there was one where they mentioned 'hoof' glue, how did they know it was horse hoof glue and not animal hide glue? can we clear this up once and for all, is there any difference?

 

[Keith 66]

Watched a couple of them with the family, the guy restoring the stained glass window was a real craftsman. This weeks episode i was not so impressed, that rocking horse was a bodge, using pliers to mangle a nut & pouring glue into craked paint, then using body filler to pudden up the missing bits.
We turned it off.

 

[Harbo]

“This weeks episode” - it’s on virtually every night.
It not supposed to be a detailed master class but a pleasant easy watch about bringing damaged stuff back to life.
Some of the repairs must cost a small fortune in real life and the participants seen to get the work done for free.
If you look up the repairers some have amazing pedigrees.

Rod

 

[Yojevol]

Watched a couple of them with the family, the guy restoring the stained glass window was a real craftsman. This weeks episode i was not so impressed, that rocking horse was a bodge, using pliers to mangle a nut & pouring glue into craked paint, then using body filler to pudden up the missing bits.
We turned it off.

What method would you recommend for the horse?

 

[Tasky]

Saw a few episodes.
Most of the woodworky stuff seems to be about sending stuff away to have a professional make a replacement panel, and then slotting the new part in.

That bloke with the funky apron and flat cap seems like a bit of a dick, TBH - He's also the 'expert' on another show, where they take stuff off people at the local tip and then 'transform' it into some modern-art-masterpiece... supposedly the (butt-ugly) thing sells for thousands of pounds, but of course the artistic artisan experts' costs have to be covered, whereafter the presenter visits the original owner from the tip and presents them with the profits in cash... usually somewhere between £30 and sometimes as much as £150...

I saw Apron Bloke doing his thing on one such episode, where he basically recovered a chair, took a couple of bits off and painted it black, but then put a couple streaks of blue on one leg and one upholstry button - This apparently makes it Art Nouveau and worth thousands... He even spilled paint on his expensive Armani designer white shirt while he was doing it!!

Oh, don't forget... the "Pro Tip" from the experts - Put a bit of scrap wood inside your G-clamp jaws, so you don't spoil the wood you're working on!!
I expect their next tip will be something equally fundamentally-noob, like using sharp tools instead of blunt ones... what a revelation, eh!

It's mind-numbing artificiality TV and I take the mickey HEAVILY out of my wife for watching such things... mainly because she agrees with me about it!!

 

[Rorschach]

Tried an episode, can't get on with it, it's so slow and mind numbing. Much better content on youtube these days.

 

[thetyreman]

I saw another one that did kind of involve woodworking, it was an absolutely terrible job, the guy couldn't be bothered to add stringing to the box so imagine the lid with 1/3rd without the original stringing from the 19th century, so the lines on the new section he crudely glued on from the old stringing did not match... can't say I'm impressed, and yet the customer wasn't bothered :shock: the guy that repaired the mechanical part of the music box did a great job, but it was ruined by the poor woodworking.

 

[bourbon]

TBH, It's TV. But in it's defence, It inspired me to get back into my workshop when I was at a low ebb. I now try to fix anything and everything. My new motto is, If it's not in it's component parts, It's not broke.

 

[Bm101]

The Mrs stuck on the record button for me for this BBC series following 3 'makers' a while back called Handmade. I missed the metal work but the glass one and the fella making the chair is just a lovely way to watch tv and I don't really do TV if I'm honest. A film yeh, TV I'm generally a no show. Can't maintain an interest for the most part. It doesn't grab me.
You can still catch the chairmaker on Iplayer here.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b05ttnd7 You'll have to sign in online or do it through your tv if you have all that.
There's no talking, no gas, just a man making chairs. It's lovely.
Turns out we aren't all 2018 attention deficit eejits after all. I put this on when the extended family was round chatting a 100 ways at once. and everyone ended up in silence watching. It just crept up on people and they started watching. Shut them up for a bit. After everyone kind of had a little stretch and that. And sighed a bit. Possibly.
:wink:
It's nice.
The only better tv series was that Irish Hands one for pure quality on youtube imo.
For any that never saw it it's here on you tube. From a different time at no loss except to us maybe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sx2y7MAys20

As Bourbon says. It's Tv.

 

[Bm101]

Annnnnd I just watched a Hands Horse Drawn Carriage Makers episode! (hammer)

 

[Rorschach]

Hands is a superb series.

 

[mrpercysnodgrass]

I have watched a few of these programs and I must say I am very disappointed with the BBC putting out such a poor quality example of woodworking. All of the individual craftspeople restoring clocks glass teddybears etc seem to be experts doing very good quality work but William Kirk gives a very poor representation of restorers. Robbo, his work is so poor I am convinced this is the reason for the blurry and shaky camerawork, the episode that thetyreman mentioned with the musical box is some of the worst restoration I have ever seen, the replacement half of the lid did not match in any way whatsoever, if you had shown it to me and asked for an opinion I would have said it was done by a complete amateur 'having a go' for the first time. The cameraman and or producer must have realised this and put the blurry filter on. I had a look at William Kirk's website, as one of the examples of his work that he is no doubt proud of is an early 18th century oyster veneered chest with strap work inlay. The top has some damage to a section of the laburnam veneer and inlaid line. His solution to this problem was to fill the damaged section with car body filler!!!!! He is a cowboy and has no place fronting a program like this. Shame on the BBC, with so many experts in antiques working for aunty beeb and so many fantastic restorers in this country you would have thought they could have got a real expert to do the woodwork.

 

[AndyT]

For anyone disappointed with the lightweight presentation on The Repair Shop, may I recommend Thomas Johnson. His channel has seven years worth of videos showing professional work, mostly on furniture. The camera work is excellent, especially on the more recent, HD videos, focusing on the work itself, not the presenter's face.
I guarantee you will learn useful techniques and methods by watching these.

https://www.youtube.com/user/johnsonrestoration

 

[Robbo3]

Robbo, his work is so poor I am convinced this is the reason for the blurry and shaky camerawork, the episode that thetyreman mentioned with the musical box is some of the worst restoration I have ever seen, the replacement half of the lid did not match in any way whatsoever, if you had shown it to me and asked for an opinion I would have said it was done by a complete amateur 'having a go' for the first time. The cameraman and or producer must have realised this and put the blurry filter on. I.

I put it down to artistic licence. It's what the producers thinks the viewers should have. They forget that it's an audio/visual medium that needs clarity.
We've been through a period where the lighting is nearly non existant so that scenes are realistic ... thus we can't see anything & must imagine what's going on because that's the way the producer wants to show off his artistic technical genius ... not.
Then we have the dialogue trying to overcome the background music. Why?
Grrrrr.