David and Jays touring toolshed

[Mike Jordan]

How many of you have spotted that the tool sheds doors have been braced the wrong way ( or perhaps hung one the wrong sides)
I hope the craftspeople they visit are demonstrating more expertise.

 

[Mr P]

I did in the first episode, even remarked to the wife that they were wrong, just got a blank look.

 

[Cabinetman]

Oh dear, that’s a schoolboy error. The last time I saw a wooden shed on a trailer chassis like that was at a cowboy re-enactment thing, I thought it was quite a clever design, the front opened up Horizontally the bottom half formed the floor of a porch, and the top half hinged up to form the overhanging roof, the porch had railings and upright posts as well, inside was a period style bed complete with a sheepskin cover, a rocker for the porch and a wood burner, the chimney slotted on when it arrived on site.
After shooting each other for far too long really followed by copious amounts of beer the guy no doubt slept quite soundly.
Ian

 

[Mike Jordan]

Takes my mind back to the days of Barry Bucknell.

 

[Doug]

Clearly they’re not very competent who ever they are

 

[Raymedullary]

That is a pet hate of mine.... its everywhere! It doesn't make me cry though so I guess I do not qualify to be featured on the program so will never have the chance to tell them.

 

[AJB Temple]

I've not seen it on TV. But surely neither of them are woodworkers? Jay Blades was a charity worker of some sort and became a presenter. I liked David Jason playing Pop Larking in Buds. Still active at 84 is a good thing.

 

[Woodbloke]

Just watched a couple of clips of that on UToob, no more than thee or four mins; that's about as much as flesh and blood (at least mine) can stand - Rob

 

[Mike Jordan]

I have nothing against either of the presenters and I don’t expect them to be woodworkers, but that type of fault tends to leap to the eye of any viewer with experience of the trade. After watching the programme some time back I tried to make a programme suggestion using the BBC website - after about thirty minutes of wasted time I gave up! It seems to be designed to avoid communications of any kind.

 

[Trevanion]

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I think Jay Blades rose to fame as a furniture designer? I seem to recall his trademark was taking old furniture and painting a leg or an arm and leaving the rest original or slightly tarted up and asking thousand for them.

I know it’s unrelated really, but I always thought most of the people on the Repair Shop didn’t really have much of an idea what they were doing (Steve Fletcher being the only one who seems to know what he’s doing), a prime example was the metal “expert“ Dominic Chinea, he’s been posting videos online recently of this radial arm drill and he simply hasn’t got an idea what he’s doing with it. He replaced all of the oil zerks with grease nipples, now his drill is going to wear out prematurely when the grease turns into a grinding paste when combined with cast iron powder and other swarf.

I’ve also heard horror stories about Chinea being a massive plagiarist in regards to what he does, in a discussion about English wheels he was told that someone was planning on bringing back Ranalah Wheeling machines, and when he realised the trademark wasn’t registered he went behind the original person and registered it himself and is now producing his own wheels, copying entirely the process that the other gentleman was doing for his wheels.

 

[Woodbloke]

I know it’s unrelated really, but I always thought most of the people on the Repair Shop didn’t really have much of an idea what they were doing (Steve Fletcher being the only one who seems to know what he’s doing)

Just to go 'off piste' for a moment, I'd agree that some of them, Blades included are total wallies when it comes to repairing stuff, which includes Will the Woodmangler who's the worst of the lot. That said, many in the barn are very, very good such as the picture restorer (who worked at the V&A), Steve's skin n'blister who does the leather work (I reckon she was or still is a smoker), the guy who does the shoes, the bloke who repairs the books, the upholster lady who likes neck scarves, Brenton the jeweller, the Norwegian (?) ceramicist, and of course Steve the clock bloke. What JB does is to pull the whole show together, much the same way as the odious Tony Robinson used to do with Time Team a few years ago - Rob

 

[AJB Temple]

I agree with Rob. When the repair shop first started, it was very amateurish and did some horrendous bodges. But in recent times the quality of some of the restorations has been outstanding. For example Angelina Bakelarou the paper conservator is a real expert in her field. Will is just eye candy I think for the ladies. Amiable and has been trained but perhaps the jobs he is given don't fully suit him. Jay has no real furniture restoration skill, but his personality suits the repair shop show and he has grown on me a bit.

 

[MattS]

Have to say I love the Repair Shop! Most of the experts are that, another one not mentioned is Pete Woods who works on instruments. He's worked with drums his entire life and now owns the company he started out at as young apprentice.

I've listened to Will speak through the Heritage Crafts, he is a professional restorer even if he doesn't end up working on fine pieces on the show.

Dom might not be an expert like some of the other, he is a jack of all trades, and designed the sign before getting a job on the show.

 

[Pete Maddex]

Jay Blades is a fellow dislexic so in my books he is o/k.

Pete

 

[Woodbloke]

Jay Blades is a fellow dislexic so in my books he is o/k.

Pete

He also taught himself to read fairly recently; there was a good program on the TV about it a while back. Apparently in the early shows he couldn't read what was put in front of him and tried to hide the fact from the others - Rob

 

[SamQ aka Ah! Q!]

I’ve also heard horror stories about Chinea being a massive plagiarist in regards to what he does

It's not very hard to spot. He's a reasonable metal worker, no more; his 'bigging up' of techniques could - in some measure - be attributed to the director's requirements for that hackneyed oxymoron: "exciting telly".... but mehhh...nah. He's a plagerist.

 

[Mike Jordan]

Is this series still running? If so has it improved in the opinion of skilled woodworkers on here?

 

[AJB Temple]

I prefer the one with Christina Trevanion and Will the Wood Mangler. My sole reason for this is that she is lovely and very nice in person too.