The repair shop

Just watching the repair shop.

Ok not strictly our area, but wow some talented people young and old.

Geoff

Absolutely agree, very talented crew, always worth watching.

Emgee

I never hear anything about money cost of repair, do they work for free? Niko.

Great program, excellent specialists, we're both fans, but it could do with a bit less padding!

The Magician and his wife, who's daughter brought in the music box were Harry and Rose Rengal. Harry was known as Ringo the Magician, for his act where seemingly solid rings would interlock into a chain.

Great show, especially admire the guy who fixes clocks and the lady who repairs paintngs and porcelain.

Yes, agree with all the above, but why does Susie (Leather worker ?) use this glue ?  HOWSTICK 125.

leather glue

The manufacturers say it is for temporary holding of leather ??

Edited By Speedy Builder5 on 01/10/2020 06:46:10

Interested that I wasn’t the only one to look up the glue!

I swap between interest and ranting at the screen, having spent many years restoring furniture.

The use of staples on antique items is a real ‘no no’, if it is tacked when stripped then tacks it is when it goes back!

I've the show too. Like any of the restoration type shows the timescales are too compressed, to the casual observer it looks like the work is done In a day. They could explain that Will has spent 20 hours stripping the unit and it took four attempts to make such a thingybob.

They do the work for free, its the "back story" of the piece being repaired that decides what is going to feature on the show, this approach has been well documented on t'web.

As has been mentioned, timescales have been compressed along with other things which, to me, make it look all too easy to do the work when clearly the work requires plenty of skill, knowledge and, possibly, a bit of luck. Reminds me of "Wheeler Dealers", Edd gets under a car, a squirt of penetrating oil and that nut and bolt that hasn't been touched for 30 years comes undone immediately. Anyone else and it would be a mornings work. That show must have been responsible for many failed attempts at vehicle restoration because they made it look easy.

Never the less, I enjoy watching the "Repair Shop".

John

It is a great show, I just wish that they would state the number of hours taken on each project.

Why do they always blow the dust off the job? Bad, bad idea. Blame the Producer who thinks it looks good.

The TV Production Company pays for the repairs, but it's cheap television compared with drama. A friend lived in a village about 1985 were a film-crew turned up to make an Agatha Christie. (Memory fails - I think it was Miss Marple) Vans, lights, microphones, roads closed, and dozens of people took three days to film what they wanted. When the program was broadcast, footage of the village was blink and miss it - seconds.

Each of the Repairers has an independent business; I think using them privately would be pricey!

The only thing I don't like about the programme is they often skip over important details. The camera lingers on stuff I know or could guess, and skims over the tricky bits. Had a look at the book that goes with the series: not recommended as a DIY guide for the technically minded!

Dave

Although 'Repair Shop' started out as just 'telly for the technically inept' it has raised it's profile considerably and I notice that now even skilled people atually watch and comment on it. Anything that displays skill to the ignorant masses is useful!

The way this prog has pulled itself up by it's bootstraps is similar to 'Escape to the Chateux' which started out, in the voice of a friend as;...."that bloke with the moustache and the barmaid"....but has, by increments, become quite interesting due to their sheer hard graft.

Just how many times can you watch someone sawing a bit off, wrestling with a buried screw or pressing a new piece into some glue? After all, filing a piece to a finish is boring to do, watching somebody else do it is excruciatingly so. Any TV series that regularly showed that wouldn't be on for long.

This is true of all craft videos, the best ones know when to edit stuff out; time spent on the setup, start of machining/sewing/painting/whatever so you get an idea of what it should look like, a good shot of each completed step and the finished part all with an intelligent voiceover is far more watchable than 20 minutes in real time of a lathe making a big rod smaller.

Repair Shop is about the items, owners and their stories, charismatic experts with the more visual parts of the work added for interest. That well-judged combination is what makes it a pleasure to watch for lots of different interests.

The clock repairer, Steven Fletcher has his workshop is my local town.

Reference the comment about production costs, a fraction of an episode of the wartime drama "Danger UXB" was filmed in the village scout hut where I grew up. The scene was meant to be in a Bletchley Park hut. As our scout hut was a genuine wartime time hut had been relocated, it was seen as suitable location. They were there about two weeks and redecorated the interior dark grey. The resulting scene lasted barely 30 seconds and the background was so dark it could have been shot anywhere!

I think Repair Shop has generated a lot of interest in restoration and repair and has been a huge success and is an excellent counter to the modern "throwaway society".

I also assume that The Weald and Downland Museum where Repair Shop is being filmed (they were working last week when I visited) are doing well out of it as well.

Yes, I enjoy the series very much, too - but have some of the same gripes. If they have independent busnesses, do they do all the work in the Hut, or only the few bits to fllm?

It's probably my hangup, but I loathe the motheaten old teddies and suchlike.

Sometimes I find the gushing customers a bit hard to take. I suppose an attitude of quiet but real appreciation is hard to convey! Or film.

+1 for enjoying this show. Not sure how many have been done, only seen it on our local Aussie TV this year.

Only gripe is I've never seen Jay Blades actually do any work!!

It is light entertainment and the title repair shop is probably why things are returned to working order and reasonably aesthetically pleasing rather than restored as a valuable antique would be. For many of the customers the delight is in seeing the wheels go round again or the broken made whole.

Mike

I've not watched it but hear about it a lot as people turn up at the Men's Shed expecting free repairs. As said above film producrer types have zero interest in technical details, it is all about the characters. Same was true with the Fred Dibnah series which showed minimal technalities as it was all to make a show of this quaint oddball with a northern accent.