Episode 19 Money for Nothing

Throwing out the whole three-piece suite, are you?

How do you make money for nothing?

What have you been smashing up?

The answer could be hiding in over 20 million tonnes of household waste

thrown out by us every year.

-Can I have them?

-You're welcome to them.

They're only going in the skip.

That's why entrepreneur Sarah Moore wants to

get her hands on things before they hit the skip.

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

and I've turned that passion into a moneymaking business.

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

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

I think we can really be quite playful with this.

I could make several mankinis out of this, couldn't I?

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

Oh, that's such a relief.

..valuable...

Oh, it looks all shiny!

..and hopefully saleable items.

I love them. You are a gem.

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.

I really can't believe that.

That's amazing.

Some serious clearing out is going on in Witley in Surrey.

The recycling centre here is in full swing, as people slim down their

surplus and throw out their trash,

and we tip our hats to the 150,000 good folks that

visit here every year.

Thankfully, Sarah, champion of junk,

knows how to make sense of all this scrap.

It's that time again.

I'm back at the recycling centre and I absolutely love it.

If it's old, it's gold.

Let's go get it.

Now, before you make a beeline for your local tip, take note -

Sarah has special permission to do her thing here.

Sarah wants tempting by three ditched items that she can make

desirable and turn into cash.

What a load of rubbish? What a load of money.

Oh, no, that actually is rubbish,

and it's not long before Sarah spots Julian with a trailer full of stuff.

-Hi there.

-Hi.

-I love a trailer full of rubbish.

What are you up to?

Oh, just helping my mum clear out her garage.

She looks like she's got a great garage.

I'd like to see the rest of her house

if this is what's in the garage.

Yeah, well, this is the stuff that we don't need, so... Yeah.

I'm really liking the look of your telephone.

Do you know anything about it?

I think my mum said it was probably my grandpa's from the war.

I don't know any more than that about it,

other than it's obviously relatively old.

Old indeed, Julian -

field telephones were an essential piece of equipment used throughout

World War II and beyond.

-I've got a bit of a character, hasn't it?

-I think it has.

I am always at the recycling centre looking for things that come in -

it's normally old stuff that I find appealing,

and that, I think, has got potential written all over it.

All right, yeah, OK.

Telephones like this were vital for battlefield communications.

Not only were they powered by battery, they had a hand-crank, too,

making them usable almost anywhere.

I'm not sure it'll ever make a call again

but it would be great to see if it could do something else or...

Yeah, go for it. If you think you can do something with it,

that'd be great. It'll be interesting to see if

you can turn it into something more exciting.

Well, can I come and find you if I do?

-Please, yeah.

-I think this...

The more I look at it, the more appealing it's getting.

-Thanks so much...

-Please do, yeah. Good luck with it.

..and I'll give you a bell, yeah?

Yeah, yeah. A bell, very good, yeah. Very good.

Sarah has her first item -

what might she do with it, Julian?

Not a clue. It looks like a good doorstop from where I'm standing.

Well, this is the original mobile telephone

and, I have to say, I absolutely love it.

As a piece of styling, it's fantastic.

As a piece of history, it's even better,

and, I have to say, frankly, I think that is a cracking find.

It's made my day.

When it comes to transforming a World War II field telephone,

Sarah knows just who to call.

Introducing Mark Haig, robo-chap.

Mark uses his years of engineering know-how to create

one-of-a-kind, bespoke robots from just about anything.

My dad was a clock repairer,

and I would sit in front of a three-bar electric fire

as a seven-year-old kid,

and I'd get some bits of clocks from my dad,

get bits of Meccano, and I'd make some kind of mad robot,

and, 40 years later, I'm still doing the same stuff.

To make these mechanical marvels really come to life,

each one comes with its own back-story.

I can create these fun stories that go with the robots,

and the combination of having this interesting story that goes with it

makes for a really unique object.

Hmm, a robot from a telephone -

I doubt that's going to work.

Mark, this could be your biggest challenge yet.

That's one item neatly packed away - just two more to go -

and Sarah's doing what she can to cover ground quickly.

It's a big tip.

It's big, it's busy and it's bursting with booty.

Suzanne has arrived to make her own contribution to the tip lot,

with a boot stuffed full of potential prizes.

-Hello there.

-Hi.

-I've been looking in your rubbish

and thinking it looks quite exciting.

There are lots of interesting things in my boot.

-Hi, I'm Sarah.

-I'm Suzanne.

Hi there, Suzanne.

What are you doing? Is it building work?

It is. Yeah, I'm renovating a 1910 Victorian semi.

I'll tell you what's catching my eye, it's this.

-What was that for?

-So, the house had subsidence at about 30 years ago...

-Right.

-..so I think there are about six bars in total

through the side of the house to support it.

They feel like they literally weigh a tonne, don't they?

I know! I should keep one just to do...

-Yeah...

-Evening.

Yeah, bingo wings.

Yeah, excellent, well, I think maybe that's a really good idea.

Yeah, well, they look like the kind of thing that we might be able to

use to make something else out of.

If it's OK, I will take them away...

-Yeah, yeah, do.

-..and share them with my friends

-and see what we can come up with.

-Do.

-They're brilliant, thank you.

-You're very welcome.

Let me just start off with those two.

METAL CLANGS Ah, the sweet ring of potential profit.

-Well, thank you so much for that.

-You're very welcome.

I'm going to try and shake hands. Sorry, gloves and everything.

-I shall take this off for my fitness.

-Enjoy.

Muscle-building aside,

what else does Suzanne think Sarah could do with the steel bars?

I'm sure Sarah is going to completely take me by surprise

and reinvent them into something that I could not even imagine.

I mean, look at these -

they're really heavy and they're made of solid steel.

They're a good, pure, raw ingredient and they've got huge potential.

All I need to do is convince somebody

that these are just their cup of tea.

And that someone is Bex Simon.

Bex is one of the country's leading artist blacksmiths,

and, together with husband Dave,

this pair have certainly proved their mettle,

producing high-end furniture and bespoke metalwork commissions.

When I first came across someone working in

the blacksmith's workshop,

I just suddenly knew, "That is what I have to do."

Fire is incredibly exciting, you know?

It's orange, and it's bright, and it's loud and it can hurt you.

So, seeing fire, it lights my pilot light,

and I think that's because I'm a fire sign -

I'm a Leo.

Well, Bex, let's hope this steel lights up your imagination.

Back in Witley, Sarah is two items to the good,

with just one left to find.

This next item will be a project of her very own.

There's no containing my excitement.

I am loving your enthusiasm.

It looks like Jane and Mike are having a major clear-out,

and Sarah's already spotted them.

Hi there. Hello.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-That looks nice and solid.

-Have you had enough of it?

-Well, it's certainly heavy.

-Wow, look at that.

-Yeah.

Whose is that? How long have you had that?

Erm... Well, we've had it in our house probably about 20 years.

-Right.

-It's been in the family...

I think it's probably...

It could be 100 years old...

-Wow.

-..and it's been passed to various people,

but we're moving house, so we need to get rid of it now.

It seems Sarah has a fine eye for quality.

The logo says "Staples Mattress",

a company in the bed business since 1876.

In fact, the term "mattress" often referred to

the wireframe spring unit that was built into the bedstead.

Hmm, isn't it time for my afternoon nap, now I think about it?

It's just the kind of thing that I would love to have a go at

seeing if I could update a bit.

Would it be OK to have a go?

Oh, of course.

It seemed a shame to bring it to the tip in the first place, actually.

I'd love to come back and show you if there's something to be made.

-Oh, yeah, that'd be great.

-Would that be all right?

-Yeah.

I might have to ask your help to see if I can carry it away.

Certainly.

Jane and Mike's single bed was bound for the bin.

What do they make of Sarah taking it to pastures new?

I know that not many people want second-hand beds,

but it is... It's nice to think it might get used again.

Yeah. Yeah, and in the right place, it might be...look quite good.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

Well, it's a really sweet old bed.

It's chunky, it's easy to put together,

and I think it's absolutely ripe for a makeover.

Right now, it's not even good for a sleepover.

Sarah has collected her three items.

Mark will try and get through to this wartime phone,

Bex will take on the steel bars,

and, for Sarah, it's the heavy-duty single bed.

Well, there's no time for rest.

I've had success, but the hard work begins now.

Most magnificent Manchester is a hub of creativity -

at the forefront of this is engineer/robot-maker Mark.

He's waiting patiently for Sarah's arrival.

I'm looking forward to Sarah arriving.

I'm looking forward to what she's going to bring me.

Something nice, vintagey...

Well, it is most certainly nice and most certainly vintage.

Well, I'm calling in on Mark, and I've got a little plan for my phone,

and it's not a robot.

Let's hope he goes for it.

Mark's workshop is full of weird and wonderful objects...

Mark?

..but will Sarah's phone ring his bell?

-Hey, look what I've got.

-Wow.

What a beautiful, beautiful object.

-Isn't it cool?

-It is absolutely gorgeous.

It's a field telephone.

And someone was throwing this away?

Yeah.

I've had a good look at it, and I was thinking maybe it could be

-reaccessorised as a telephone...

-Mm-hmm.

..something that we can use with a smartphone or...

You know, I'm open to ideas,

but I just love the idea of being able to take calls on it again.

-So do I.

-I just don't know how that will work.

So, it isn't a robot this time -

Sarah wants Mark to re-engineer the old telephone

so that a smartphone can be connected to it.

When someone calls, instead of answering your mobile,

you can pick up the receiver of the field telephone instead.

Very clever indeed.

Is it possible, though?

Yeah, I think so.

I mean, these old phones, they strip down fairly easily.

-OK.

-So, you've got the headphone in here.

That's us. There you go. There's the headphone.

-Wow.

-It's old technology,

but it's how speakers still work nowadays, in essence.

To make a smartphone connect to the field telephone,

Mark needs to use Bluetooth technology.

This works by carrying data via radio waves

from one device to another.

So, do you think you can re-engineer that to get some kind of Bluetooth

-thing going on?

-I do.

-That's what I hoped you were going to say - that it's doable.

-Yeah.

What kind of cost is that going to be

to bring that up to good-looking, functional,

and saving it, basically?

I reckon about 150 quid.

I wasn't expecting it to be less than that, I have to say.

If we can just make sure that that doesn't end up in the skip,

then we're doing a good job.

If we make a bit of money, then that's excellent.

I hope it goes well.

-Yeah, OK.

-Always nice to see you.

-And you.

-Give me a call when it's done.

OK. Hello, Sarah?

Hold the line, Mark.

Well, that is great news.

Mark is definitely going to make the most of that phone

and I can't wait to hear and see what he does with it.

Thank you for holding.

Go ahead now, please.

I'm slightly nervous about working on it, to be honest with you,

but I'm always up for a challenge and hopefully this will go OK.

Mark's budget for re-engineering this World War II field telephone

so it connects to your smartphone is £150.

Ring-a-ding-ding, this could be a beautiful thing.

200 miles south, in the metropolitan green belt of Surrey,

Bex and husband Dave are their usual optimistic selves,

as Sarah makes her way with the steel tie bars from the tip.

It's nice, Sarah coming to bring us things, isn't it?

Cos we don't normally, you know, do this sort of thing,

so it, sort of, mixes up what we normally do.

It's a good challenge on design, trying to keep the budget low.

THEY GIGGLE

Well, I've brought my heavy metal to leafy Surrey, in the hope that

Bex and Dave want to take it on

and transform it into something beautiful.

It's going to need a lot of skill to make that into hard cash.

-Hi.

-Hello.

# I've a little something for you. #

-I've got you heavy metal.

-Cool.

-Yeah, perfect.

Perfect...as in I'm in the right place?

-Yes, absolutely.

-Yeah.

What was it?

It was a tie. You know if you have a house that's on the move?

-A wall tie?

-It was, yeah.

-Shall we put it all up here?

Do you want it up there?

Mind the ends, cos they've got burrs on the end of them.

So I'm hoping that they're something you can work with,

but they're not cast, are they?

So, presumably that's a steel that you could do something with.

Yeah, absolutely. We can shove that in the fire,

burn the paint off, and then it's ready to forge.

The guys seemed pleased with the steel,

but what does Sarah think they could make out of it?

I was wondering whether you could

spike some of the metal through some shelves.

Something like that, to make a set of shelving.

OK, so you've got your...the shelf,

and basically the metal's going to go through a pierced hole.

Yeah, so it's coming up through there, and...

It would just be quite tricky to get it to work with these angles.

Yeah, so maybe just keep it straight down then.

If we kept it straight and then...

I don't know, maybe do something at the ends.

I'm thinking that the shelves would be easier

if they were not metal, probably, wouldn't they?

Well, yeah, probably just, like, wood or something lighter.

I think it would be a better contrast as well,

-to have the metal and the wood.

-Mmm.

What's the damage, then, Dave?

How much have you got?

Well, if it's big, impressive and room-divider size,

500 quid all in.

Yeah, we could probably work with that.

Oh, that sounds amazing.

I'm really excited. I can't wait to see it.

It's going to be huge, isn't it?

I hope it doesn't give you any trouble.

-No, same.

-Don't burn yourself. No crushing.

OK? Thanks ever so much.

-See you later.

-See you later.

-Bye.

-Bye.

-Bye.

So, they really went for the shelf idea,

and that means the pressure's on me.

I'm hoping it's going to be a big statement piece.

It's got a big budget, but it really needs to perform.

It should look nice.

You know, again, it's a little bit of a challenge,

but that's what we like.

-Don't we?

-Do we?

-We do.

Of course we do.

Well, lucky for you, Bex, you've got one,

and, even with a budget of £500,

you may need extra steel from within to make this a reality.

Back home in Sussex,

Sarah is going to tackle the spring-filled single bed.

Well, I love going to the recycling centre,

and seeing what kind of stuff turns up,

and then I find something, and I think immediately,

"I know exactly what I'm going to do with that."

Until you come across something like this. This bed is just...

I don't know what to do with it, so I think the only thing I can do is

have a really close look at it,

see what kind of components it's made up out of,

and hope that provides the inspiration for making something

that will actually make some money, cos, at the moment, I'm baffled.

Oh, poor Sarah.

Well, how about this for inspiration?

King George V recovered so well from a back injury, using a bed just like

this one, that Staples, the company who supplied it,

earned a Royal warrant in 1932,

so a bed fit for a king -

not a bad starting point, Sarah.

I can't imagine what I saw in this at the recycling centre.

Why don't you break out the tools,

get started, and the inspiration will come?

Come on, then, Arthur. How do you get your nuts undone?

Well, I don't use pliers, Sarah, that's for sure.

Oh, there we go.

That is not the end to that bed.

These do not fit. Great(!)

No problem, Sarah - you love a challenge.

So, maybe I can just drop it on the floor

and use it as a big daybed, perhaps.

There you go, fantastic.

Who doesn't love a beautiful daybed?

They're nice.

Well, I'm really relieved,

because I've finally come up with a plan for this bed.

I'm going to go for beautiful raw linen, hessian,

to make a soft, utility-style, pioneer-inspired kind of daybed.

I'm hoping these stainless-steel legs will give the bed

the support it needs and a little extra style.

Lovely.

Yup, it's everything I imagined -

noisy, quite uncomfortable...

Don't forget, it was once fit for a king.

Sarah's first step in making the bed comfortable is to stretch hessian

across the metal springs.

This material is used in lots of furniture,

whether antique or modern,

as it supplies a strong base to work on.

I need to get this hessian really nice and tight.

I want a lovely sprung base to this.

STAPLER CLICKS

I've just got a really thin layer of foam going on top of the mattress,

so the springs don't come through, and, if anybody puts their hand

underneath the mattress, it's going to be nice and soft and safe.

Thankfully, it's also fire-retardant,

as this material meets UK fire-safety regulations.

So, after a bit of a slow start,

Sarah's dug deep and is well on her way to creating a delightful daybed.

Having spent £70 on a mattress and £45 on fabric,

the total spend so far is £115,

but will this daybed create sleepless nights for Sarah,

rather than a profit?

In Manchester,

Mark is re-engineering the World War II field telephone

so it takes calls from a smartphone.

If it works, calls will come through to the old telephone receiver -

sounds complicated!

Feeling nervous, Mark?

It's quite a scary one for me,

because it involves lots of work, lots of electronics,

and the stuff that you get nowadays isn't always that easy to work on,

so I've bought this little phone.

It's a Bluetooth phone.

Mark needs to get Bluetooth technology from this device into

the world War II phone, so it can wirelessly connect to a mobile.

He's also going to make the field telephone

a mobile phone docking station and charger.

Tricky!

So, this is the bit that's worrying me at the moment,

because, if you look at the handset here,

there's no actual way of splitting this,

so somehow I'm going to have to remove these buttons here

and wire them in to somewhere else on the actual phone.

First, though, Mark needs to strip the original components

to make room for the charging cables.

So, as you can see in here, there's this big bell...

that used to do the dinging.

It's got the guy's signature, there,

who actually built the thing in the first place, I imagine,

or tested it, which is amazing.

-BELL CHIMES

-That rings a bell!

Listen, I do the jokes around here, Mark!

Unfortunately, the original bell in this old phone can't be

engineered to be part of the new design,

and, while some components can stay,

others need to be stripped out, too.

Once done, Mark can drill some holes and get wiring.

OK, so we'll give this a test.

We go mains into there,

USB into there,

the phone goes into there,

and, hopefully, we're charging, which is good.

Part one of the mission is accomplished,

as the smartphone charging station is up and running,

but what about the Bluetooth?

This is the part of the build I'm not looking forward to whatsoever.

Mark needs to transfer the new technology from the modern handset

over to the field telephone.

That is what a microphone looks like nowadays,

and this is a 60-odd-year-old microphone.

Things have moved on a little bit.

Ain't that the truth, Mark?

With the workings of the modern telephone extracted safely,

Mark can now use the headphone, mic and ringer

within the field telephone.

However...

This is the little Bluetooth module,

and these switches are quite problematic, actually, to cable off,

so somehow I'm going to have to make that sit in there and look pretty.

I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to do that at the moment.

I think we'll leave you to it!

Back in Surrey, work is well underway on the steel legs

that will hold the shelving unit.

Dave is measuring up the wood, and Bex is working on forging the bars.

So, just drawing it out, and then I'll know

what measurement I'm working to,

and I don't want to take it out down too far

and then be a bit thin in places.

The risk is, the longer the bars become,

the less able they are to hold weight, until, eventually,

they end up being too thin to support the shelves,

and unfortunately that's exactly what's happened here.

Radical rethink, anyone?

So, I think we've established that there's not enough steel

to make a big shelving room-divider,

but we really want to do something with this steel,

cos it's so nice,

so I think we're just going to forge some bottle-openers...

-And coasters.

-..and coasters.

I think this is what one would call a creative curveball.

A new approach requires a new location -

next door with Terry, a fellow blacksmith,

with some serious machinery.

First up, the coasters...

OK, so this is the stock,

so we're just cutting it down into lengths of 70mm

so that we can squash it flat into coasters.

Once cut to size,

Bex takes the lead on the project and heats them in a furnace to

temperatures of over 1,000 Celsius.

This allows fellow blacksmith Terry to squash them with his impressive

mechanical hammer.

The result is perfectly round, perfectly flat coasters.

Very cool...

or very hot, but you know what I mean.

With the coasters coasting along, time to turn to the bottle-openers.

Like the coasters,

they require small sections of the steel to be heated

at high temperatures.

Nearly getting there, Dave.

Then they can be moulded into shape and have holes punched through

the softened steel.

Once this is done, the holes will be shaped to have a metal lip

to easily open your bottles of choice.

There we go.

It's starting to take shape.

-Yeah.

-Who wouldn't want to have a lovely hand-forged bottle-opener

and a couple of coasters?

Me.

-Well, you're getting one for Christmas.

-I hate forged work!

Ha-ha(!)

From where I'm standing, I'm not sure I want one of them, either.

With two transformations well underway, back in West Sussex,

Sarah's in our barn studio putting the final stitches

in her revamped bed.

Sarah started off with this old, unwanted single bed.

It was dull, it was cumbersome,

and the headboard didn't match the bed base.

But look at it now -

Sarah has channelled her pioneer spirit with this stunning daybed.

Stainless-steel legs and hessian on the base give a hardy, rustic feel.

A new mattress, covered in stunning 1930s vintage fabric,

also makes it bang-on trend and utterly timeless.

The final touch of those gorgeous floral pillows shows off this clever

transformation into a beautiful and practical ottoman.

Load this daybed onto the wagon, because I'm heading west!

Well, it's finally done.

It's got a whole new look and now it is really comfortable too.

But, altogether, I'm hoping that,

with this hand-stitched edge along here

and some nice pictures taken with the pretty cushions on it,

it's now much more saleable.

So, it's straight to the picture-taking.

The next step is to find a buyer.

At Witley Recycling Centre, Sarah met Jane and Mike.

That looks nice and solid.

-Have you had enough of it?

-Well, it's certainly heavy.

They were getting rid of a very old spare bed.

I think it's probably...

It could be 100 years old.

Sarah took to the internet, and posted her pictures on social media

to try to find a buyer,

but were there any takers?

Sarah's travelled to Godalming in Surrey to meet up with Jane and Mike

to show them the transformation.

-Hi there.

-Hello, Sarah.

-How are you doing?

-Very well, thank you. Come on in.

-Nice to see you. Thank you.

Hi, Mike. Hi, there. Nice to see you.

Hi. Nice to see you again.

So, you've arrived in your new house.

-Yes.

-It looks amazing.

You were throwing out things from your old house,

is that right, which is where the bed came from?

-Yeah.

-Your family, is that right?

My great-aunt owned it last

and, prior to that, it was in her family.

I tried to put it together and I couldn't make it work, so...

-What did you think I was going to do?

-I don't know.

I know it's not normally what it started out as.

-Do you want to see some pictures?

-Oh, yes.

It didn't go far from a bed.

-In fact, I turned it into a daybed.

-Wow.

Oh, that's lovely.

-I used all of the frame, because it had such great springs in it.

-Mmm.

It was a very good...obviously a very well-made bed in its time.

-Yes.

-So, what do you think?

I love it. It's so nice that it's being used again.

I'm delighted. Very pleased.

Well, it didn't transform that much,

but it has managed to make a bit of a profit,

so I've brought that for you.

-I have got 85 quid here for your old bedframe.

-Wow.

Who's having that?

You're the accountant.

-They're your accounts. You can take that.

-Thank you.

Thank you very much.

That's a pleasure. Accounts, where is that money going to go?

Well, we went over the budget on this place, so...

-Oh, really?

-So it will help us.

Well, actually, I think we should give at least some of it to charity,

and the aunt who owned the bed had dementia,

-so I think we should give it to a dementia charity.

-Yeah, yeah.

OK, well, I'll leave that to you,

but thank you so much for letting me have it.

It was a lot of fun to work on.

Fantastic. It's been really interesting.

-Thank you so much. It was great to catch up.

-Thank you, Sarah.

-Nice to see you again. Bye-bye.

-Bye.

-Bye.

Well, bed into daybed -

it wasn't a massive transformation,

but I reckon 85 quid is a nice, healthy profit.

Sarah's daybed costs came to £115,

and it sold for £200,

leaving an £85 profit for Jane and Mike.

In Manchester, Mark is doing his final checks on the field telephone

before Sarah arrives.

He's relieved he's finished what has been a very tricky task.

This was a very difficult project, but I've finally got it working

and I think she's going to be happy with it.

I'm not sure, but we'll see.

Indeed we will, Mark.

Well, I'm back to see if Mark has managed to fulfil the mission

to turn that old army phone into a working, modern,

useful piece of kit.

When Sarah met Julian at the tip,

he was about to call time on this World War II field telephone...

..and how sweet it is to see this piece of military engineering

come back to life with a modern twist.

Mark has created a perfect marriage of old and new,

by re-engineering this field telephone to not only allow you to

charge your phone, but also to receive calls from your smartphone.

Oh, I think I want one!

-Hello!

-Hello, Sarah.

-How are you doing?

-I'm fine, thank you.

-Two phones?

-Two phones in one.

Go on, then, what happens?

So, you've got a dock on here, and that charges your telephone,

and then this is your handset.

-Lovely.

-The phone doesn't have to be on there, by the way.

It can just be within, like, a few-metre range.

So it's worked, then?

-Oh, it works.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-Oh, fantastic.

-I got it working, eventually.

-Can I give it a call? Can I have a go?

-Yeah, of course.

Hold on, I've got your number. OK, so...

-Great, you have that, then.

-OK.

So I'm ringing you.

-PHONE RINGS

-'Phone call from...'

-What do I do?

-Pick it up and press the button?

-Press here.

-'..07...'

-Press that.

-Hello?

-Hello?

Hey, that's fantastic!

Oh, it's really cool!

Very, very cool indeed.

While I've got you on the phone, talk me through the money.

It's come in on budget.

I mean, I wasn't dealing with too much expense

as far as the parts were concerned, it was just my time to work on it.

Well, that's a lovely call to have.

-I'm going to put the telephone down and say, thank you very much.

-OK.

All right. There we go.

Oh, it really works!

-It really works.

-That's fantastic! And you can use it...

So you can have your phone somewhere on the side,

and you can just walk over to this and answer?

-Yeah.

-Brilliant. I think, to make something that old

useful and functioning again is really clever, so thank you so much.

-Absolute pleasure.

-Can you get it packed up for me,

and I will get selling and then come and tell you what's happened to it?

-OK, lovely.

-Thank you.

-Nice one.

-See you.

-Bye.

"Nice one" is right.

I salute you, sir.

Well, I don't think Mark's found a new calling -

I think he's going to be sticking to robots -

but he's done a great job on my phone.

I just can't wait to see where it ends up.

I'm so pleased that she liked it.

I'm happy with the end result,

but I think I'm sticking with the robots.

At Witley Recycling Centre, this World War II field telephone

originally belonged to Julian's grandfather,

and Julian was pleased to have been cut off from letting it go.

I haven't necessarily got the talent all the time to create something,

you know, good, so if someone else wants to take something away

and they think they can do something with it, then fantastic.

One man with bags of talent and just enough time was Mark,

and, after some tricky engineering...

Sarah was mighty pleased that he answered the call to transform this

beautiful piece from World War II.

The quirky mix of old and new is what attracted a buyer -

Reckage At Home, an interiors shop in Doncaster, loved Mark's phone,

and owner Rachel couldn't wait to get her hands on it.

I love this little piece.

It's quirky and funky and I'm sure our customers will love it.

Sarah is in Godalming to drop in on Julian and hand over some cash.

-Hiya!

-All right? How are you doing?

-I'm really well. How are you?

-Good to see you again.

-Yes, and you.

And you were being a helpful son, I think, when I last saw you.

That's right, yeah - I was clearing out the garage.

And that old phone was your grandfather's, right?

-That's right.

-What did you think I might do with it?

I couldn't have even hazarded a guess.

It was just a lump of metal, as far as I was concerned,

with a telephone on top.

Actually, it was a lump of metal with great character.

I took it to a man called Mark, up near Manchester,

-and he normally makes robots...

-OK.

..and I've got a picture here to show you of what he's done with it.

-Right, yeah.

-So, your phone now looks like this...

-Oh, right, cool!

-I've turned it back into a telephone.

-Yeah, yeah.

-So, basically, what he's done is set up a place

where you can go and charge your smartphone...

Right. Oh, as a charger, OK, yeah.

..and accept calls on it, so, when the phone rings,

you can go and pick up the old trumpet.

Oh, really? You can actually talk into it?

And have a proper conversation.

Oh, that is impressive. I like the re-usage,

and the reinvention of the telephone thing,

and to have it all working with the original handset is a nice touch.

-Very nice.

-Excellent. Well, I'm glad you approve.

It has been sold.

-Oh, wow!

-It's gone to a retro shop.

-Oh, great.

-And I've got a bit of profit, here.

-Brilliant.

-I've got a fab 50 quid for you.

Oh, happy days. Thank you very much.

That was unexpected...an unexpected surprise, so, yeah, excellent.

Well, I'm really pleased it made some money.

So, somebody's getting a new phone.

What are you going to do with that £50?

I would imagine it's going to be spent on my daughters.

I've got five-year-old twins, and things tend to...

money tends to disappear fairly quickly when it comes to them,

so I imagine that's where it's going.

Fantastic. Well, thank you so much.

I know you're very busy, so I'll say, lovely to see you again.

Thanks very much for coming back.

Bring that trailer back to the tip.

-Yeah, OK, cheers.

-Thanks. Bye.

-Bye.

Well, I think that's one phone update that Julian

really wasn't expecting.

Mark did a cracking job,

and I have a feeling that that money won't be hanging around for long.

Mark charged £150 to re-engineer the field telephone.

It was sold for £200, leaving a £50 profit for Julian's twin girls.

In Surrey, Bex and Dave are giving the coasters and bottle-openers

a once over before Sarah arrives.

After the U-turn on design,

they're understandably nervous about Sarah's reaction.

Sarah's coming to expect a big shelf, room-divider,

-type thing...

-Yeah.

..and we're giving her something a lot smaller.

A few bits and bobs, really!

Well, I left Bex and Dave with a little bit of steel

and some very big ideas, and I just can't wait to see what they've made.

When Sarah dropped the steel tie bars off,

all they were fit for was the dump...

..but, now, just look at what the old steel has become -

a cleverly-forged ten sets of bottle openers and coasters.

Each one is completely unique,

with the addition of a little copper motif,

showing off Bex's incredible blacksmithing skills.

They're wonderfully quirky and definitely saleable,

but a shelving unit, this is not.

Just what will Sarah think?

Hiya, how are you?

-Hello!

-Hello.

-Oh, no.

-"Where is it?"

-Where is it?

Did things not go to plan?

This is it.

Seriously?!

I was expecting a massive room-divider!

-Yeah.

-Those are lovely.

-LAUGHTER

Go on, then - tell me what happened.

Well, we started forging out the metal,

and we realised that there wasn't actually going to be

enough metal to make, you know, the structure of the room-divider.

So then we just thought, "Why don't we just, you know,

"forge the metal and make something very tactile with it?"

And so this is what we came up with.

It's fantastic. So, beautiful and useful.

Everybody needs one of these, don't they?

It's definitely happiness and relief all round,

but what has this total curveball done to the budget?

So, what has this cost, to produce this lot?

Well, it's the same.

Hold on, how many have we got? One, two, three...

OK.

Seriously?

I think it was £20 a set.

OK. Wow. £20 each, that's a great deal.

Thank you. I think they've come a long way from those really heavy,

awkward, black pieces of metal that were dropped off.

Thank you so much.

Well, it wasn't what I was expecting,

but I absolutely love these openers and the coasters.

All I've got to do now is find somebody who drinks beer.

That's not going to be difficult, is it?

When Sarah spied the bars in Suzanne's boot in Witley,

initial thoughts about what to do with them were, frankly, silly...

I could keep one just to do...

-A bit of...

-Evening...

-Yeah.

You know, bingo wings!

..but Suzanne was confident Sarah could transform them.

I'm sure Sarah is going to completely take me by surprise.

But what Sarah had originally imagined for them turned into

something completely different.

Sarah posted pictures of the bottle-openers and coasters online

and, very quickly, three sets were sold to a private buyer.

The other seven were bought by an antiques and vintage store

in Shropshire, and owner River is pleased with his purchase.

These are fantastic, how Bex has managed to forge these from steel.

I absolutely love how rustic and how hard-wearing they feel.

Sarah is in Haslemere in Surrey to meet up with Suzanne

and hand over the profit.

-Hi, Suzanne!

-Hi!

-Hi there. How are you doing?

-All right, how are you?

-Yeah, really well.

So, this beautiful renovation work, all done.

Yes, all done, completed.

-Yeah.

-I remember chatting to you at the recycling centre, and you saying

-that you were an avid recycler and user of materials.

-Absolutely.

So, what did you think we did with your bars?

I've been racking my brain, "What on earth could they make out of them?"

I've got some pictures of what actually happened to them.

-Are you ready for this?

-Oh, exciting! Yes!

-It doesn't look like a steel bar.

-Oh, really?

-Your bars have been made into bottle-openers and coasters.

-Oh!

Oh, my word, that's amazing! I love the copper.

They've been handmade, hand-forged, and are a lovely set.

-They're beautiful.

-Well, they have been sold,

-and I've got some money from the proceeds of the sale.

-Oh, really?

-I've got £50 here for you.

-Oh, wow, that's fantastic.

So, that's for your steel that...

Whoa! That's lovely. A lovely ending! Thank you.

I'm glad you like that.

I always like to know, because I'm nosy - where does that go?

-Well, I am doing a charity walk around the Isle of Wight...

-OK.

..so I think I'm going to put it towards that.

-That's a fantastic idea.

-Thank you.

Thank you so much for catching up.

Good luck on the walk, and that sounds like a great cause for that.

-Thank you very much.

-Bye-bye.

-Thanks. Bye!

Bex and Dave charged £200 for ten sets of bottle-openers and coasters.

Sarah sold the whole lot for a total of £250,

leaving a £50 profit for Suzanne.

Sarah salvaged three items that were destined for the dump -

Mark scored a victory with the military phone,

Bex showed some steel with the metal poles,

and Sarah worked wonders with the single bed.

Well, I really enjoyed that.

We take stuff, we make stuff, and we send it off to new homes.

What could be better than that?