Episode 6 Money for Nothing

Ooh, just before you throw those away...

How do you make money for nothing?

-Can I have it?

-You can have it, yes.

The answer could be hiding in the 30 million tonnes of household waste

we throw out every year.

Now, this is one seriously unusual tip find.

That is why entrepreneur Sarah Moore

wants to get her hands on things before they hit the skip.

I'm a passionate user, maker and buyer of old stuff.

And I've turned my passion into a moneymaking business.

I make new stuff out of old stuff and sell it for profit.

And with some of the country's elite designers and makers...

These were going to be thrown away, seriously?

I love it, love it, love it.

..she can transform her finds into desirable...

It looks brand-new.

..valuable...

You are joking?

..and hopefully saleable items.

That is a triumph!

If Sarah is successful, then she can hand the profits back

to the very people who had no idea

there was cash to be made from their trash.

That is amazing!

Today, Sarah finds herself in Altrincham, near Manchester,

home to this delightful recycling centre.

A stool that's not cool,

a three-piece suite that is anything but,

or a cabinet and that's just had it,

can all be transformed into stunning items

with that wow factor to make some money for nothing.

Yes, it's Sarah's mission to seek out three items that can go

from unwanted and tired to sought-after and desired.

Sarah, queen of tips.

Her Majesty has special permission to rummage here

and it's not long before she's sniffed out her first curio

in Luther's boot.

-Hello, hello.

-Oh, hello.

-Big clear-out? Garage, is it?

Well, moving home,

so this is the start of getting rid of a load of rubbish.

How long have you got till you move?

-Well, we have probably a couple of weeks or so.

-Oh, really?

-So the pressure's mounting?

-Definitely.

-This is just the start, you know.

-It's a good start. What's that?

Well, it used to be the father-in-law's. He died recently.

-What is it?

-Well, it's just an old ammeter-type thing.

-He used to work for Shell.

-Oh, really?

In the electrical department.

He was 97 years of age, so it could be quite old.

You don't see stuff like that any more!

An ammeter is used for measuring the strength of an electrical current.

Nowadays, it fits in the palm of your hand,

but this one has its own carry case.

It was destined for the tip,

but, you know, if you can make use of it, make use of it.

-Do you know something? I would love to have that.

-OK.

-Brilliant.

-Thank you so much.

-OK.

It's like a handbag, look.

Oh, that is a SHOCKING idea! Get it? Voltage, shocking?

Oh, all right, I give up.

But Luther's pleased to see the back of it.

To me, I've got enough old stuff at home.

And don't need any more, thank you very much!

I love my new ammeter. Have you seen it?

Look at it. It's a stunning little piece of industrial equipment.

I know exactly who to take this to

to make this into something fantastic.

If you like lamps made from all sorts of crazy stuff,

Guy Trench is your man.

Handyman Guy works tirelessly with his band of happy helpers

to make one-of-a-kind furnishings from...well, anything, really.

I used to be a North Sea diver, and I spent ten years doing that.

My grandmother was an antique dealer,

so I thought I'd try antiques.

My wife said to me, "Guy, you're good with your hands.

"Why don't you cobble together something old?"

And so I got some old bowling balls and turned those into table lamps

and I thought, if I can do bowling balls, why can't I do cricket balls?

And I thought, if I can do a cricket balls, I'll just try a cricket bat!

I did a cricket bat and then I was really on my way.

I love using reclaimed material. You can't beat it.

With Guy and his gang lined up,

it looks like the old ammeter will be electrified once again.

One down with to two go and Sarah's struggling.

If I could make things out of polystyrene and cardboard...

I'd be on to a winner.

Luckily, it looks like Andrew's boot is going to offer a better bounty.

What else have you got in there, then? Got the kitchen sink...

-You're chucking those out?

-I was going to weigh them in.

What does weighing them in...?

-I'll take them to the local recyclers...

-Yeah?

And they'll give me money for them as scrap metal.

Andrew's well aware that scrap metal merchants locally

will only offer around 5p a kilo.

So with that lot of old-school science lab stools,

he could make...ooh, 50p!

I love them.

So he might just be better off taking a gamble on Sarah

and her moneymaking plans.

Where are these from, then?

I used to work in a school - they were original lab seats,

-I think they were.

-Yeah, yeah.

They're the same, they're just rusty.

-We don't mind a bit of rust.

-No?

-No, they're lovely.

-So what will you do with these?

-I'm not going to tell you.

But I'm good to come back and show you. Brilliant.

I shall take those away.

-I am really chuffed with those, thanks ever so much!

-All right.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye!

I'm pretty sure Andrew won't regret giving those stools to Sarah

rather than selling them for scrap.

But does he think Sarah and the stool will have a good chemistry?

You can use the tubular steel in those shapes and weld them

together to make all sorts of endless possibilities.

Hmm... Not very comfortable at the moment, but one day

these stacking stools are going to be fantastic again.

There's seven of them, so there's money to be made here.

We just need to find the right person who loves this retro look

to update them. And I think I know who that is.

Say hello to Josh and Oli, designer makers,

business partners and best friends.

These boys use natural and recycled materials to create

handcrafted furnishings and high-end interior pieces.

We kind of joined forces in 2013 and started working together.

The best thing about working here is probably when you have a new idea

for something and you can just kind of come in,

you've got all the tools you need,

you can sit down with your sketchbook.

I mean, the feeling that you get

when you make something actually original,

and it's come from your mind and you then take that idea

and bring it into the physical world, yeah, it's an amazing thing.

I just hope that amazing feeling

will extend to her newly acquired science lab stools.

We're two down and three is the magic number for Sarah,

as the next item she finds will be all hers.

What people throw away drives me nuts.

See, wing nut, get it?

Will you get on with it?!

Sure enough, she soon spots Les, whose boot full of bags

is like a lucky dip to our Sarah.

So talk me through what's in here. Anything I might be interested in?

-What's in there?

-Haven't got a clue.

Here you are. Just take it out and have a look.

-I might like some of this stuff.

-It's up to you, love.

-You can take what you want.

-These are quite sweet.

-What's that?

Oh, the coat hangers.

Only Sarah could get so excited about a load of old hangers.

Hopefully, she can find something just a bit more interesting.

There seems to be a coat hanger theme going on here.

-Well, it looks that way, doesn't it?

-Oh, my word, more?

Ridiculous!

Les is sorting through his recently departed uncle's belongings.

-How old was he?

-He was 90-odd.

And he just loved hoarding things, did he?

-Well, that's what people do, isn't it, duck?

-I do.

Les isn't one for standing round chatting, so it's up to Sarah

to see if she can dig out anything other than hangers.

Oh, there goes Les.

It's like being underneath a Christmas tree here.

There you go, kids.

Bags of hangers! Merry Christmas!

Lovely. Thank you very much for letting me have a little rummage.

If I find anything interesting, can I keep in touch?

-You do what you like.

-Oh, lovely!

Les clearly has a lot to get through,

so Sarah's grabbed a few choice bags for a longer rummage on her own.

Oh, wow! Look in here.

Let me guess, more hangers?

Metres and metres of old fabric.

It's quite narrow, that means it's old.

Anything that's 30 inches wide, old fabric, is sort of 1940s,

from when they made things on the narrow loom.

But I think there's huge potential here to turn a profit.

And I'd love to have a go at making some projects out of this.

And with that, Sarah has her three items.

Guy and his team will jump to it with Luther's ammeter,

Josh and Oli will experiment with Andrew's science stools

and Sarah will go the extra yard

with the metres and metres of Les's fabric.

Today, I managed to gather yet another unusual hoard of items

which I think, once re-imagined,

stand a real chance of making some money for nothing.

Near Maldon, in rural Essex, is the workshop of antiques

and reclamation mastermind Guy Trench,

who, with the support of his assistant Keith,

is a hugely talented trash-tackler with a bit of a liking for lighting.

Always looking forward to seeing Sarah.

She brings quite interesting things to me.

I love things that come out of skips, totally worth nothing

and when I get hold of it, hopefully

I can make it worth something to somebody else.

He might get a shock when he sees what she's chanced with this time.

Well, I have to say this is one of the quirkier items that I've saved.

Who knows what Guy might be able to make out of it?

-Hello, hello!

-Hi, Sarah.

-Lovely to see you.

-And you, my dear.

I've got a little something

and I don't know if you can do anything with it.

But have you seen anything like that before?

I don't know what you've brought me this time.

Oh! It's an altimeter? A meter.

-Keith!

-Hello?

-Come and look at this.

-Hi, Keith.

-Hi, Sarah, how you doing?

-Yeah, really well, how are you?

-Good, thanks.

-What do you reckon to that?

-It's quite smart, isn't it?

-Isn't it?

Whether it can actually be put to any good use is...

well, is a problem I'd like to leave to you.

That's right, Sarah, pass the buck!

I think this, polished up, would look really good.

-Don't you think, Keith?

-Yeah.

This out here is all patina, it's lovely.

And I think we could just work the lovely waxes into this

and you'll get a lovely colour there.

Round the outsides, a bit of leather polish on there?

It will look good, won't it?

Yes, yes, it'll look nice. But what could it be?

-Um...

-And make it into lighting?

Make it into a light, of course, yeah. Definitely a lamp.

A lamp, of course. Why aren't I surprised?

In terms of converting it,

are you thinking it would stand on something?

-Um... What about a wall light?

-Yeah.

-I don't know.

Once that's cleaned up, half shade on it...

Because that's in your eye when you walk into places. Boof!

"Boof" indeed.

But there's a spark of inspiration from Keith too.

I'm wondering whether you'd get a little LED or something in there

-to light that up.

-That's a nice idea.

-Yeah?

-Might be able to do it.

-What kind of money am I looking at?

-I think about £125.

-OK.

-Um...

-I'm really happy to leave it with you.

-Yeah.

Just do what you can, turn it into something functional

and saleable, then, you know,

I'm not going to be able to go wrong on that. That would be great.

-Lovely, always a pleasure.

-Lovely to see you again.

-Take care, Keith, nice to see you. Bye-bye!

-Bye-bye!

Well, that ammeter is going to look amazing

when Guy has finished with it.

He's certainly the man to put a bit more energy back into that ammeter.

And Sarah's empowered Guy to get creative.

If we can get maybe an LED or light inside it.

Yep, I think you've got a great wall light.

She's done well on her skipping this time!

Sarah's probably not in the mood for skipping,

having committed a hefty £125 to the project for Guy

and his team's labour and materials.

They're going to have to give it quite a finish

if Sarah's going to sell it on for a profit.

In the West Sussex countryside, near the small village of Halnaker,

designers Josh and Oli are anticipating Sarah's arrival.

Just a little bit nervous.

We could have a situation in which we just don't know what we're doing.

She's usually got a knack

-of bringing some pretty crazy stuff along with her.

-Yeah, yeah.

I don't know what you mean(!)

I know loads of different people

who might be able to take on these stools.

But I'm after a really handmade quality to them

and some emphasis on craftsmanship.

Hello?

-Hiya! Look what I've got!

-Wow.

-There's good news - there's more, hold on.

-OK, cool.

-Nice.

-I've got seven.

-OK.

Are you bragging or complaining, Sarah?

What do you think of them?

-I think they're great, yeah.

-Yeah? First impressions, all right?

-It's really nice.

-I mean, all they need is just some freshening up

-and some nice wooden tops.

-I think that's the key, nice wooden tops.

I was thinking that you might just put a bit

of recycled old plank or something.

Charming! To be fair, Sarah, you did bring recycled old ironmongery.

So I'm sort of hoping that they would look really lovely

and high-end and somebody wants to buy them to go around their...

breakfast bar or something like that.

Well, she's ambitious, I'll give her that.

I think the contrast between the old flaky paint and rusty metal

and a new sort of polished hardwood top,

I think that would look really smart.

I would probably have one of those in my kitchen diner or whatever.

Well, funny you should say that, you may be able to.

Because there are seven here and, from my experience,

things normally sell better in pairs.

So I was thinking maybe we should just do six of them.

Hear that, Josh?

Just doing six out of the seven stools leaves a set of spare

dirty, rusty legs for you! You lucky fella!

So what wood would you use?

I would say we would go and buy some new planks,

maybe walnut or oak, sycamore, maple?

I don't know... Yew? That's pretty crazy.

Easy, tiger! You're not on Name That Tree.

I'm really happy for you to get to the wood yard,

see what looks best and just go for it.

So that'll be the stool tops looking lovely,

with carefully selected hardwoods.

But surely those rusted legs will need a lot of work?

Whenever you put new stuff and old stuff together,

if you keep it quite smart,

then you can get away with having a bit of rust.

It's going to be cheaper than if you have to spend hours

polishing each frame, isn't it?

She's always got her eye on the bottom line.

Speaking of which...

Money, though. How much is it going to cost?

I would say we could probably get the tops for £15 per top.

And I mean, if we don't spend too long on the frames,

just maybe a coat of lacquer or wax or something...

45 a stool, then?

-£45 each gives me a nice margin to make a bit of money on them.

-OK?

-Yeah.

-45?

-We'll try and sort that them.

-Done deal.

Excellent! I think they're going to look smashing.

That's a fantastic reaction.

I can't wait to see half a dozen beautiful stools

that are really fit for purpose using some lovely new materials

to make them just look really crispy. Perfect.

After a thorough inspection, Josh and Oli are nearly on the same page.

-I think they've got a lot of potential...

-Just imagining them

-with a nice walnut top or something.

-I like them as a range, though.

-The idea of having a different top on each stool.

-On each one?

I reckon. I think that'd be really cool.

Well, I'm sure they'll have worked it out by the next time we see them.

Sarah's looking for a set of six stools at a cost of £45 per stool

for the wood and Josh and Oli's labour,

making a grand total of £270.

But will those rusty legs undermine the sumptuous wooden tops

that they have planned?

At her home in Sussex, our material girl Sarah's itching to get started

on that bundle of old cloth she unravelled earlier.

Having a whole bundle like this is really exciting.

And it's really lovely stuff.

So I'm planning to turn this lot into fantastic scarves,

those big wraparound ones that are really commercial at the moment.

First she carefully measures the...

I'm just going to make up the sides, there's just so much fabric here.

Oh, no, my mistake.

First she grabs some scissors,

makes an educated guess and starts cutting.

Perfect.

Oof! Lucky guess!

And after another hour or so,

she's very accurately chopped up the lot.

Right, so there's 15 scarves here.

So I'm going to get these through the washing machine

and then get them dyed.

I can't wait to see what these look like in different colours.

Sarah's using off-the-shelf cold water dyes.

With just some water and salt,

you can create vibrant colourfast tones.

You can dye pretty much any natural fabric with these powders.

Come to help?

She is aiming for a range of vibrant spring colours,

some of which are working really well.

That's looking hot.

Others, less so.

That's so not blue. It's supposed to be ocean blue.

As it happens, I quite like the purple. It's going to be all right.

Time for green.

I'm not sure I'm quite ready for tropical green.

It's really green.

Sarah adds a little yellow dye for a less Incredible Hulk

and more halcyon springtime feel.

Now, that's a proper spring green.

Kind of looks like moss.

Bramble's adding her own distressed look.

Make yourself at home on the silk, Bramble.

That's how it's done commercially, you know!

After a quick dry and iron, it's time for the fiddly bit.

So this is where the fun really begins.

Lots of little details on it.

Go to town with tassels and ribbons

and make them all have their own personality, really.

Sarah's going to roll the edges of the scarves

and add some colourful embellishments.

Snip little sections...

So they're about that long,

wrap it really tightly round and then tie it.

And then I can just sew a little line of those

along some of the ends of the scarves.

I think this is going to take ages.

But all these fantastic colours together,

I think they're going to sell.

That's one tassel done. Just another 300 or so to go.

If only Bramble could lend a paw.

Sarah's spent just £10 so far on these three packs of dye.

But with so much sewing to get through,

she'll have to enlist some help,

which will all add to her costs.

In Maldon, Guy's getting to grips with the old ammeter,

and he's got some new plans.

What we'll do is we'll put two little bulbs

on the tops of each here.

I think that will look quite quirky and cool.

But before he gets stuck into the electrics,

Guy still has that scruffy wooden box to restore.

Keith?

He's a great delegator!

On this one here, we need your expertise on cleaning it.

And he's calling in expert number one.

First, Keith's attacking that ugly paint mark

with a scalpel and some paint stripper.

See, already you can see it starting working.

It's already starting to slightly bubble up the varnish work.

Here we go, it's coming off nicely.

Now that black mark is almost invisible now.

But before Keith attacks the rest of the box,

Guy's keen to have a look at that leather handle,

which is bolted to the inside.

You never know what might be behind here.

We don't think it's ever been off the back since it was made properly.

Let's have a look.

I'm on tenterhooks. What might be in there?

A gold sovereign? Hidden Enigma codes?

-Well, there's nothing inside it apart from the mechanism.

-Oh...

-There is some scribbling there.

-Oh, it's a bit of writing, isn't it?

There's a date in here.

-8/3/37.

-Well!

With the handle now free, Guy can give it some love,

while Keith strips the rest of the box.

Now, what I'll put on this now is a bit of leather cream.

Whoops-a-daisy!

Yes, we will just work that into the strap.

Just let that dry off for a little bit longer.

Then we will give them a bit of buff.

And Keith's hard work on that wood has Guy inspired.

Sometimes it's very satisfying just working with a bit of wood.

Suddenly it all comes alive and it's becoming beautiful again.

It is so simple to do, anybody can do this.

But it's a great joy to do it, as well.

Isn't that right, Keith?

With all the varnish stripped,

Keith polishes the wood with some clear beeswax.

Oh, that's great-looking.

You've done a brilliant job on that.

Look, the leather strap has come up well, as well, hasn't it?

Yes, Guy, we know you did that bit.

With the box looking tiptop, it's time to light it all up.

Call in expert number two.

This time it's electrician Steve,

who starts by making a small hole for the mains wire.

OK, you want to stick with the...

I think the old silk wire is definitely important,

-it's keeping it in character.

-It is a nice look.

While Steve works his electrical magic,

Guy is starting to get excited about what Sarah will think.

I think when she sees this, she's going to go "Whoo!

"I can make some money on this." It could be in all sorts of places.

It just looks old-fashioned tech brought to life.

We need to find some more of them.

Yes, 1930s ammeters are easy to come by(!)

Perhaps a few more months at the dump, Sarah.

Right, OK. Put the old workings back in.

With Steve adding two old-fashioned filament bulbs to the top,

the rebirth of that ammeter is almost complete.

Wow. Yeah!

Over 100 miles away in Sussex, Josh and Oli are making a start

on the rusty legs for the set of six old science stools.

Should hopefully be quite a simple project.

What we are going to do is try and leave the paint on there

and just take off the rust,

and hopefully get some really nice patina on the steel.

Josh and Oli are keen that as much of the limited budget as possible

goes into the wooden tops,

so they are just giving the legs

a quick rubdown with acetone and abrasive pads.

Hopefully, that will remove the rust but leave the paint.

So now I'm just putting on some furniture wax.

It'll make it look a lot better and feel kind of silky smooth as well.

It's looking good now.

Some bits are really nice.

Yeah, really happy with that. I think that's turned out well.

They've achieved the Holy Grail of the clean-dirty look.

Well played, lads. Now for the stool tops.

Josh has secured a pile of English hardwoods.

We are going to put a different slab of wood on each of the stools.

So we've got oak, sycamore, that's a bit of yew.

This is London plane.

That's ash.

And this bit's English walnut.

And we're slightly worried about the English walnut,

because it's got a bit damp.

Hopefully that's all good inside.

Let's have a look, shall we?

Josh cuts a likely-looking section from the main piece.

And it promptly splits. Ah.

Obviously we've lost quite a big chunk there.

It's just a case of trying to get a big enough piece

in order to make a stool top out of it.

Happily, there's just enough left.

Josh gets the wood down to the right thickness,

still hoping that it holds together.

It's a beautiful bit of wood.

It is, er, full of character, as you can see.

If by character, you mean it's got large cracks in it, Josh.

We'll be able to make a feature out of the splits and stuff like that.

Right...

While Josh finishes that piece of troublesome walnut,

Oli makes a start on the next piece.

-This is yew wood.

-ME wood?

-And everyone goes, me wood?

-Would I? I would.

It's not you wood. It's yew wood.

I WOULD woodwork with yew wood, would you?

Enough! It's just a type of tree.

While Oli tackles that yew, Josh puts the first stool together

using that filled and polished up English walnut.

But will all that lovely wood be enough

for that high-end sheen Sarah's after?

It's one down, five to go.

OAK-ay, it's PLANE to see that there's lots syca-MORE for YEW to do.

Crack on.

Sarah's back at home working hard to get those scarves finished.

Having already tussled with her tassels for hours on end,

Sarah's bitten the bullet and enlisted help.

She's roped in her sometime assistant Ian, among others,

to get them all done.

As she's aiming for a high-end product

and a high-end price tag to match, she is confident that spending a few

more pounds on labour won't take too much of a dent out of the profits.

-Put a tassel on each corner.

-Beautiful.

So what do you reckon one can charge

for a hand-tasselled, hand-dyed scarf?

Sarah's chosen the best 12 pieces of material to finish,

and soon her tassel odyssey is complete.

Sarah found a jumble of discarded old material in a plastic bag

destined for the skip.

Now they're sumptuous and vibrant scarves

that wouldn't look out of place on a catwalk.

With a bit of dye, some leftover thread and a lot of hard work,

they've been transformed into a gorgeous spectrum

of springtime loveliness.

Well, I am really pleased with these.

They're bright, they're beautiful, and I think they're rather lovely.

And I've got a good idea about where to sell them.

I need to position them up here in terms of cost, because I want

them to be seen as a lovely, luxury item, which I think they are now.

At the recycling centre in Altrincham, Sarah met Les while

he was trying to throw out a load of his uncle's old coat hangers.

There seems to be a coat hanger theme going on here.

-Well, it looks that way, doesn't it?

-Oh, my word, more?

I know! Ridiculous.

Among all of Les's uncle's rubbish was a bag of old fabric.

Sarah chopped it up, dumped it into some dye

and tied on a load of tassels to create some sublime scarves.

They proved a perfect fit for Cowdray, Sarah's local farm shop,

who bought all 12.

The colours are absolutely beautiful. And the fact

they've been handmade from something that was otherwise going

to be thrown away really fits in with the ethos behind our business.

And they're already in demand...

-I love that deep purple.

-So do I.

..but not quite for what Sarah planned.

I'd use it for a tablecloth.

Each to their own.

Now Sarah's back in Altrincham with some loot for Les.

-Hi, there, Les.

-Hiya, love. Hiya. Are you all right?

-I'm very well, how you doing?

-Fine, duck, thanks very much.

You were hard at work last time I saw you.

-You had got loads of stuff coming to the tip.

-That's right.

So, some of it was yours, but some of it belonged to your uncle.

-Is that right?

-That's right, yes.

-In one of the bags, there was

actually some fabric that I was interested in.

I've got a picture of it to see if it's something you remember.

I don't remember, but it would be brilliant to see it.

That was in there, it was lots of really long strips of fabric.

-Some of it was silk.

-Fantastic.

So do you want to see what we did with it?

Yes, please, if you don't mind.

I would like to see what you've done with it.

-We turned them into scarves.

-It just shows you, doesn't it?

That's incredible, that. Oh, it's brilliant, that. That's fantastic.

You wouldn't think of doing something like that.

They looked really good.

And we took them to a local farm shop and they bought all of them.

-Did they really?

-Yeah, and they bought them at a profit,

-so I've got a little bit of money to share with you.

-Brilliant.

Well, you can't refuse that, can you?

I tell you what, I've actually got £160 for you.

Never?! Blimey, Charlie.

-Is that unexpected?

-That is unexpected, that.

I mean, just imagine how much more stuff just goes in that skip...

-in them skips every day.

-Don't say that, keeps me awake at night.

I bet it does. That is brilliant, that, love. Thanks very much.

What might you do with that?

Well, it's going to put a new exhaust on my car.

-2,500.

-Oh, seriously?!

-Serious money.

-That is a nightmare.

-Well, I'm...

-No, that's brilliant, that will go well towards it.

-Well, that's great news.

-Thank you very much. That's much appreciated.

I hope to see you again down there. See what else I can give you.

I hope the car's all right.

Oh, that'll be all right. Thanks very much.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye-bye now.

Well, I really enjoyed turning something plain and boring

into something luxurious and lovely.

And it sounds like the product came just in time for Les

with his massive car bill.

Sarah spent £10 on materials, and another 30 for additional labour.

12 scarves were bought by the farm shop at £200,

giving Sarah profit of £160 for Les.

In Maldon, Guy's basking in the warm glow of a job well done.

I am looking forward to Sarah seeing this piece.

I think she's a bit of a techy girl. It just looks really different.

I think she's going to really love it.

When Sarah saw the ammeter at the tip,

it was a broken old electrical curio on its way to a landfill grave.

Now it's been resurrected as a unique piece of lighting,

which would suit anyone with a love of vintage tech.

The old-style filament bulbs on top emit a gentle, cosy glow,

which is complemented by the LED backlighting behind the old dial.

Guy's team has perfectly trodden that fine line between authentic

and modernised to give it a quirky, steampunk charm.

Both Guy and I were really enthusiastic about this piece.

I can't wait to see what he's managed to do with it.

Oh, Guy!

-Hello, Sarah, lovely to see you again.

-Isn't that stunning?

-Do you like it, do you?

-Oh, that's a gem, isn't it?

I'm really pleased with it.

It really has come up much better than I thought it would do.

-It's a special one-off.

-Those are fantastic.

They are quite funky little bulbs. Pick it up, have a look.

That is really lovely. To get that light inside. That is a triumph.

Every part of it that was looking a bit old, a bit distressed,

bit worn, now is a charming feature, isn't it?

I like the wear on it, it still shows it is definitely old.

I think you've done something really special.

I will sell this, I know I will make money on it.

And to go back and to show the guy who dropped it off in the tip

what you've done to his old amp meter, I think is brilliant.

Sarah's loving those bulbs. But has Guy blown the budget?

It's come out really well. But budget-wise, 125 quid.

-Are we anywhere near?

-It's been a tough one to do it for this price.

It's not a lot of money in it for us, to be honest,

but I think we'll keep it on budget.

I think you're being generous there.

It's beautiful, thank you for doing such a lovely thing to it.

Lovely, thank you, Sarah, very much.

I think this is a really great outcome for this little amp meter.

Guy has made something really special.

And I'm going to make some money.

You're never sure how people like it,

but I think she really liked it.

And I hope the person that buys it likes it.

It's a great one-off piece again.

At the tip, Sarah was switched on enough to see

the potential in Luther's father-in-law's ammeter...

unlike Luther.

Got enough old stuff at home,

and don't need any more, thank you very much.

Guy and his team gave it a new life as a quirky table lamp.

Wow.

It was quickly snapped up and delivered

to online vintage and retro retailer, Nick Smith,

who's wasting no time getting it out on display.

I like the concept of it, because it is fun design.

I haven't seen a design like this before for lights.

With the metering on the front, with the bulbs, it's really cool.

Yeah, really like it.

Don't forget to put the bulbs on, Nick.

Now Sarah's in Northwich with some news for Luther.

Hi there, Luther.

-Oh, hello.

-How are you doing?

-Come on in.

-Oh, lovely, thank you.

-Nice to meet you again.

-Nice to see you, too.

I said that if I managed to do something with the old meter,

-I'd come and keep in touch, so here I am.

-Right.

You said it was your father-in-law's. Is that right?

That's correct, yes. His trade was an electrician.

He was offered the chance

to work on the first computer in Manchester University.

He always talked about how big it was,

and it was spread over three floors.

Well, I love the thought that maybe this thing was used

on such a lovely piece of technological advancement.

Did you think when we took it away what might be made of it?

No, not really.

I just thought you were just going to rebuild it

-and get it going again.

-Let me show you what I've done.

-It was made into a lovely desk light.

-Oh, that looks cool.

It is in keeping, really, yes.

It looked a bit like it was something electrical,

something experimental sort of going on.

It all ties in, doesn't it, really? Good idea. I never thought of that.

Do you think your father-in-law would have improved?

Most certainly, yes, because better that way

-than sitting away in some cupboard somewhere doing nothing.

-Yes.

Actually, it was a good-looking thing and it has sold for a profit,

so I've brought here £40 for you for your old amp meter.

That's the first time I've come away from the tip with £40.

-Yeah, well...

-It is a surprise.

I'm sure my wife will be surprised,

-because she won't take long to go and spend that.

-Really?

So that's where that is going. Fantastic.

Well, thank you so much for letting me come back and catch up with you.

It was a lovely thing,

and I really enjoyed watching it come back to life again.

So thank you so much. And I hope you get a little bit of that money.

-Yes, thank you very much indeed.

-My pleasure. Thank you. Bye-bye.

OK, bye.

Well, I think we made Luther's day,

and we made something really lovely out of that amp meter.

And that's another little piece of history

that's got a whole new lease of life.

With Guy and his team taking £125 for labour and parts,

and the ammeter lamp selling for £165,

Sarah was able to squeeze a healthy £40 profit

for Luther and his wife.

Sarah's back in Halnaker to collect Josh and Ollie's work.

So Josh and Ollie have had science stools' bases

to convert into something saleable.

I hope they've really managed to pull it out the bag.

I think we've kind of delivered.

We've got six of our sort of favourite English woods

on the top there. It makes quite a cool set.

They are quite special. They need to go into a school of woodwork.

-That's the original habitat.

-Yeah.

Sarah left Josh and Ollie with the rusty old legs

of some school science stools.

Now they're a spectacular set of six stools

with beautifully-finished English hardwood tops.

The rounded and bevelled corners of the seats echo

the curves of the original legs that have been carefully waxed

to preserve their patina.

And the wood has been expertly crafted

to show of the delightful character and colour tones

of the carefully-selected range of locally sourced timbers.

Oh, boys, you've been busy. Look at that lot!

Don't they look smart?

To make a sort of family of wood to go on top of them

and to use that idea to sell them together is great.

It's a really nice way to show off wood

and the beauty of English timber.

But we chose the most characterful bit of wood that we could find.

This is a beautiful set of stools.

And now, another episode of Name That Tree.

-Go on, then, let me guess. What's...? Is that walnut?

-Yeah.

-OK.

-Some kind of burry thing, so, oak?

-Yeah.

-Yep.

-Sycamore?

-Yes.

-Nice!

-Yew.

-Yeah.

-No idea.

-Ash.

-Ash.

-Ash?

-Yeah.

-And that one must be...

-I don't know what that one is.

-Think of our capital city.

-London plane.

-Yeah.

-Perfect!

Sarah's surprisingly good at that. Show-off!

I left, I think, £45 per stool on them. Did that come out on budget?

Yeah, we kept that in mind and we put that into the tops

and decided to leave the bases pretty much as they were.

I really like the bases. These colours with the wood are lovely.

Together they work really well.

I'm going to get more than £45 for that, aren't I?

-I mean, look at it.

-Yeah, I reckon you will, yeah.

Especially if somebody wants to buy the whole collection.

-What do you think? 45 times 6... So that is 270 for this lot.

-Yeah.

What you've done to them, it's a lovely thing. So thank you.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

It's a stunning achievement by Josh and Ollie.

It's now up to Sarah to get them sold.

Well, I'm really pleased with the stools.

They are a lovely simple chunky design and they're really saleable.

You can't ask for more than that.

At the recycling centre,

Richard had a boot full of rusty school stools which were headed

for the scrapyard and he had ambitious ideas for Sarah.

You can use the tubular steel in those shapes,

weld them together to make all sorts of endless possibilities.

But Sarah kept it simple and gave Josh and Ollie the task

of topping them with some beautiful timber.

And they also caught the eye of online retailer Nick.

I quite like them because they're very minimal.

-Does that mean you're going to buy them?

-I'll take all six.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Fantastic news, well done.

Now Sarah's back in Manchester to update Andrew on the old stools.

-Hi, there.

-Hey.

-How are you?

-I'm very well. How are you?

Yes, really well. Nice to see you again.

-I said I would come back and chat with you...

-You did.

-..about your stools.

-Yes.

-When we took them away,

-did you wonder what we might get up to with them?

-I did.

I really couldn't work out whether you were going to build them into

something or whether it was going to be a take on the same type of thing.

-I really... I've no idea.

-In the end, we went for stools.

-Oh, stools.

-So I wasn't wrong.

-No, you weren't wrong.

I've got some pictures here to show you of them.

-I'd love to see them.

-Yeah, do you want to have a look?

So that's how they ended up.

Oh, yes, yeah, they look really sturdy and chunky, don't they?

I can just imagine those round the kitchen island unit.

-Just that right height, aren't they, to have your breakfast at?

-Yeah.

And actually, because of that, it made them really saleable.

I've actually got some profit here to hand over to you.

-Yeah, I've got £100 pure profit here.

-£100 pure profit!

Right, on top of the people that have been paid to do the job.

-Yes, that's right.

-That's very good indeed.

They look so lovely

and so tactile that they were snapped up immediately,

so, yeah, I was really pleased.

-I hope you are with that little windfall.

-I am, very pleased, yeah,

and I think that they came from a school where children are

and I think the best place for this is for Children In Need.

I think charity will use this more wisely than I can.

Oh, that's fantastic, I love that idea.

-It just completes the circle, doesn't it?

-It does, yes.

-Really good to catch up.

-Thank you very much. Take care.

Lovely, thank you ever so much.

I think that was a lovely reaction

and Andrew's very generous to give all that money to Children In Need.

And we have created some beautiful stools that will

go on to have a new life in somebody else's house.

Perfect ending.

Josh and Ollie charged a total of £270 for the wood

and their hard work on those stools.

Sarah sold them for £370, giving Andrew a profit of £100.

Sarah unearthed three hidden gems at the recycling centre in Altrincham.

Luther's old ammeter was transformed into a quirky table lamp,

Andrew's rusty stool bases were revamped with new hardwood tops

and Les's bundle of vintage material

has found its mojo as a set of scarves.

Well, Josh and Ollie's hard work really paid off

and it's Guy's imagination

that gave a whole new lease of life to another tip find.

And me, I got to have fun with some scarves.

And it's those three transformations that all gave me the opportunity

to hand over hundreds of pounds of money for nothing.