Episode 9 Money for Nothing

What are you throwing away?

How do you make money for nothing?

I like the look of that.

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

thrown out by us every year.

What else are you throwing away? Anything exciting?

That's why entrepreneur Sarah Moore wants to get her hands

on things before they hit the skip.

Finding, transforming and selling stuff we throw away is an obsession,

and it's that obsession that I've turned into a moneymaking business.

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

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

You've got a bucket of fun for me.

-It's a big one.

-Is it?

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

They are amazing.

..valuable...

I've never seen anything like them.

..and, hopefully, saleable items.

-That's a lovely job. Thank you.

-Thank you.

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.

-..£165 here.

-No!

Sarah is snooping around a busy recycling centre in Altrincham,

Greater Manchester.

It's a bit overcast, but that won't dampen her spirits.

It's a bit wet here, but I am all sunshine and smiles.

I'm off to make some money for nothing.

Sarah's mission is to root out three items from the car-loads being turfed.

You can find anything here, from pillows to projectors.

Well, it's difficult to project what might come in here today,

but I've got my eyes open

and I'm after anything that's got an ounce of style left in it.

But, dear viewers, before you raid your local tip,

our Sarah has special permission to be here.

That's you warned.

There's some good-looking rubbish in here.

I wonder what's caught her eye in the back of Sean's motor.

-Hiya.

-Hello.

-Hello. I like the look of your rubbish.

-Is it all going in there?

-Pretty much so, yeah.

What's that, the heating system, or...?

Old water and gas piping from my fitting underfloor heating in the house.

There's loads of it. Must weigh a ton.

It's quite heavy if you have to lift it all up in one go.

It might be unusable metal to Sean, but not Sarah.

Her creative cogs are whirring.

In fact, I think I can hear them from here.

I work with some fantastic people who are using reclaimed materials

like that to try and make lovely pieces for interiors and gardens

or whatever, but it would be great to offer them something like this.

Yeah, sure. Feel free.

I'm going to ask you to help me now,

because it weighs a ton, doesn't it?

Yeah, go on, put your back into it.

Sarah has nabbed the pipes for her fanciful idea.

You could call it her pipe dream.

-Thank you so much.

-All yours.

-I'll keep in touch, if that's all right,

and I'll come and show you what I've done with it.

-Yeah, I'd be interested to see.

-Fantastic, thank you.

All right. Thank you.

I'm interested to see, too, Sean.

Will the idea be piping hot or full of leaks?

But first, Sean, tell us what you'd do with them.

I'd melt it down.

It would be nice to sort of mould something with it, a statue

or something like that.

A statue - interesting.

I love a bit of heavy metal, and there's heaps here.

This lead pipe is really old, completely useless in your house now,

and often considered quite dangerous, but I think it's fantastic.

I can't do anything with it myself,

but I do know of a couple of people who love working with this kind of

thing, and I think they're going to transform this little bundle into

something really classy.

Meet Josh and Oli, furniture designers and best buddies.

These boys think outside the box, and the results are always interesting.

Both of us being designers means that we are quite particular about

certain things. It's silly, because we end up arguing on very small

details of a piece of furniture just because we have it in our head a certain way.

Not that we ever have a fight, but it's just working around those

little details and trying to get to a point where you're both happy

with the end product.

On a kind of imagination level,

I think we complement each other quite well.

Will they be able to solve Sarah's pipe puzzle?

Or will it prove problematic for their partnership?

Phew, that was a lot of Ps!

One item down, two to go.

DOG BARKS Down, boy.

Here's hoping David has something to spark Sarah's interest.

-Hi there.

-Hi.

-What are you up to?

Just doing a bit of recycling.

Oh, yeah? Are you clearing out...?

What is it? Hold on. The garden shed, or the...?

Just general rubbish that's accumulated round the side of the house.

OK.

In amongst that rubbish, Sarah spots a heap of military kitbags.

Good reconnaissance.

-So, is this yours?

-No, it's my son's.

He was in the ATC and he wore this when he was doing field expeditions.

On manoeuvres.

The ATC stands for the Air Training Corps of the RAF.

These bags would've held all sorts of gear

and they come in all shapes and sizes.

I'm sure, in the right hands,

we could do something with these and make them useful again,

so would it be possible to pile it all up and take it away?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. I'd much prefer it being reused in some way

rather than simply recycled or whatever.

That's the spirit, David.

I shall say thank you so much,

and I shall run off with that and be very pleased to have found it.

Step to it, Wing Commander Moore.

Your mission is to land a bundle of profit.

What do you think she has in mind, David?

I've no idea. Does seem to be...

She seemed quite enthusiastic about it.

Clearly, I should've asked her. She clearly had an idea.

Yes, Sarah is good at giving that impression.

Well, there's heaps of stuff here in this set of webbing,

but none of it's really very useful.

I mean, I'm not going to be stepping down the high street wearing that, am I?

But I reckon if it was reconfigured, that must be something that could be

done with it, because it's just such great quality stuff.

I know just the man who'll take this on.

If you want a bag, then go and see Neil Wragg.

Neil is a master sewer.

Sewer? Sewist?

Neil is fantastic with a sewing machine.

His mission is to rescue rugged materials headed for the skip

and turn them into high-end holdalls that last a lifetime.

These days, there's too much going into landfill.

We've got a finite amount of space where we can bury stuff,

so if I can prevent it from going into landfill and make something

beautiful from it, that's the plan.

Most of the bags I make are from old sofas.

It could be old army tents or Scout tents.

If I can get a needle through it, then I can turn it into a bag,

and a bag that looks like it would cost hundreds or thousands of pounds

from the high street.

But just what will Neil make of these military bags?

One more item to find, and this time, it will be the one Sarah transforms.

And it turns out this tipping lark is a real international affair.

-Where are you from?

-Germany.

-Germany, OK. Hi there.

-But the rubbish is from England.

-English rubbish, OK. Yes, yes.

What's retired carpenter Keith got in the back of his boot?

I'm just getting rid of a few old saws and bits and pieces.

-You've got hundreds of those.

-I bought that one when I was an apprentice.

So, ten years ago, then?

Yeah!

Fantastic. They look lovely.

I'm looking for stuff that I can recycle or give a new purpose to.

-Can I take them?

-You can have them, yeah.

You could always grind the teeth off.

-Yeah.

-Use them for decorative pieces.

Don't give her any help, Keith.

Grab those saws, Sarah.

You've got a transformation to get your teeth into.

Well, I shall come back to you and show you what happens with them.

-OK.

-Thanks so much.

-No probs.

-Bye-bye.

-Bye.

Careful with those blades.

What will she do with those six saws?

Keith, any ideas?

Weld them together, make a sculpture or something like that.

Not a bad idea, Keith.

Well, the moment I saw these...

Saw! The moment I saw these, I knew I had to have them,

because how cool are they?

One, I'd have probably put in the metal skip, but six?

I've got to save this lot.

In my experience, if anybody bothers to write their name or engrave

on something, it means that they're an item of quality.

And these might not be very good for carpentry any more,

but I'm sure there's something to be made out of them.

The handles are beautiful, and there's a good steel blade there.

What do you think?

I think they are...lovely.

Sarah's got her three items.

Josh and Oli have that pile of lead and copper pipes to unravel.

Neil has those old military bags.

And Sarah's got to create something wonderful from those rusty old saws.

Well, I never tire of a day at the recycling centre,

and today we found some fantastic things.

But this is where the hard work begins. Let's roll.

The South Downs in Sussex - a home to design duo Josh and Oli,

who get creative with wood, glass, concrete and metal.

HE SLURPS

Pardon you, Josh!

And the boys are ready and raring to go.

Yeah, ready for whatever Sarah's going to bring.

Hopefully something quite interesting,

something that inspires us.

Always pretty exciting/nerve-racking.

Josh is all nervous!

Well, Josh and Oli are always enthusiastic,

creative and passionate about the things I bring them.

They're going to love this, aren't they?

There's only one way to find out.

-Hello.

-Hiya.

-Did I miss a brew?

-Yeah.

-Afraid so.

-I've got something for you. You're going to love this.

What is that?

I don't know. Get it up on here and let's have a chat.

Certainly heavy.

It's really cool, though. Hours of fun.

You're not fooling anyone, Sarah.

I picked this up at the recycling centre.

Oh, Josh, you've broken it.

Take it back.

Whoops-a-daisy. Not a great start.

We have been experimenting recently with pouring gold resin into cracked concrete.

-OK, how did that go?

-Yeah, really well.

-OK.

It looks cool. So, how about forming some sort of weird alloy with this?

Who knows what that would look like?

And then putting it on a table top and doing some cracked stone

or whatever, and then pouring metal into the cracks.

This technique is based on the Japanese art form kintsugi,

where broken pottery is repaired with lacquer mixed with powdered metals,

like gold, silver or platinum.

What kind of table are you thinking of?

Is that more sort of coffee table size, or...?

Yeah, it would be coffee table.

Yeah, I think we'd be here forever if it was a dining table.

A coffee table it is, then.

And to show Sarah the look, here's one they made earlier.

Holy Moley!

Guys, that's fantastic, isn't it?

That's concrete coloured black.

It's cracked, and then any gaps created are filled up with gold resin.

After that, a good polishing is required to complete the fancy look.

If you could use the influence or any of the techniques to turn

that lovely little lot into something...

-Yeah, OK.

-Let's use this as our kind of inspiration.

Is it possible to leave, I don't know, a meagre 500 quid

on the table to let you have a play around?

Yeah, if we have that as a budget,

then we'll just try and keep to that.

-500 quid.

-Thanks very much.

-Fantastic.

Loving your work, Sarah.

Those boys are certainly talented,

but that jumble of distended pipework and 500 quid, it's going to

be about if they can manage to make something fabulous with a limited labour cost.

Yep, a capped budget will be restrictive.

We'll just give it a go, get a bit creative with it and see what happens.

Yeah, I think we just need to go away

and have a good old think about it and then just get cracking.

Yeah.

Get cracking - ha-ha-ha(!)

Leave the jokes to me, Josh.

Sarah marches off into the sunset, leaving them with £500

to experiment their way to a cool coffee table.

Marlow in Buckinghamshire is a charming historic English town

on the banks of the Thames.

It's the home of Neil Wragg,

who's been rustling up stylish bags here for the last two years.

I'm used to working with materials that people don't want any more,

but Sarah usually adds another dimension to it.

She brings me something that's usually got an extra quirkiness,

uniqueness, or just something that brings its own challenge.

How's a pile of old military bags for you?

I'm on manoeuvres in Marlow with my lovely bag full of army surplus,

and I'm hoping Neil Wragg is going to change it from excess

into must-have accessory.

It's RAF surplus, actually, Sarah.

Hup two, there's work to be done.

-Hi, Sarah.

-Hello.

You're moving in again.

I wonder what the drill is going to be here, then.

This is a heavy load, this one.

Wow! You've... You've brought me a bag.

I know, but it has got loads of things inside it.

This stuff is amazing.

It is full of these cool little accessories.

It's the real McCoy, isn't it?

It weighs a ton, it's thick as anything.

At the moment, this kind of kit has got limited appeal,

but I thought maybe you could do something to it that would put it

back on the high street.

Just give it to the Scouts.

You're not getting out of it that easily, Neil.

It's useful, but it's not beautiful at the moment.

It isn't beautiful. It was never meant to be beautiful.

We could maybe use that utilitarian, that non-beauty,

and turn it into something beautiful.

But it will involve a lot of cutting, a lot of sewing,

and a lot of planning, but there is potential.

I think the best way to

go for this one, to turn this around,

is to go to the bigger items and transform them into top-end bags.

So, what do you reckon?

We've got two really good potential bags

out of that whole lot, probably, haven't we?

Yes, we've got two bags we can get out of this.

We'll maybe discard the bits with the plastic on

and we'll concentrate on the heavy-duty, the metal fixings.

We don't renovate these bags, but we actually transform them.

It's two bags in total, but what's he thinking about the cost?

What would we be talking about, cost-wise,

for two bags from this little jumble?

To you, £150,

and then you can sell two bags and you'll make some money from those.

£75 each?

-Brilliant.

-Sounds like a deal.

Not a bad price,

but the redesign will have to be high-end to make money.

Got to love that enthusiasm.

Heaps of components there,

but tricky to design something that will actually make money.

But I think Neil's got the right idea.

But will Neil really be able to march on with these?

It is going to be tricky.

This is turning a bag into a bag from a bag.

So, it's not straightforward.

A bag into a bag from a bag by Neil Wragg.

Yep, you've lost me.

I don't know how it's going to work,

but I just know that the raw materials have got potential

and they've got a personality.

That's a total of £150 for Neil's work on two bags.

Lots of stitching to do. Good luck, Neil.

In Sussex, Sarah is taking on her challenge

to turn those six rusty saws

into something, well, less rusty and less saw-y, I suppose.

I love these old tools,

because they just don't make them like this any more.

And it's such a shame that they have to end up going into the tip.

But they're basically obsolete.

So, I thought, how about turning these into something

that is again going to be useful, practical and really good-looking?

I'm going for signs to go above the shed, to go in the man cave,

maybe in the workshop, or even just a shop.

That's got to be better than having them ending up in a skip, hasn't it?

Anything's better than ending up in a skip.

First, she needs to banish some of that dirt and rust.

So, on with the gloves, on with the dust mask.

Time to get scrubbing.

Sarah's using good old wire wool dipped in wax.

"Why wax?" you may ask.

Well, without wax, that final finish would be dusty and hazy.

Is it just me, or does that look like an owl?

Well, if owls were made of wood and had a sharp row of teeth, then,

yes, why not.

Look at that.

Well done, Sarah.

Those owls - I mean, saws - have come up a treat.

After a bit of pricing research online, though, there's a hitch,

meaning the plan to turn the saws into signs isn't going to cut it.

Well, I've double-checked, and pretty much the only thing

I can get done is some black letters etched across the blade,

and these are really dark, so I don't think that's going to be very effective.

But I can get somebody to hand-cut them with some sort of wobbly,

organic-looking lettering, and that would be about 50 quid a saw.

So I know what I'm going to do.

I'm going to make these into the most fantastic

saw-shaped cheeseboards you've ever seen.

Eh? Was that me or did she say cheeseboards?

I can't do this on my own, though,

because there's no way I'm using an angle grinder to cut these,

and I think that's what's got to happen.

I'm really lucky, because I know a man who does have one

and who can help.

I wonder who that could be.

Let's go find a man.

It's not you.

If it's not the rubber chicken in your drive,

it must be your local carpenter chum Paul.

-Saws.

-Yeah.

Now, it might be sacrilege to a traditionalist like you,

but I've got to make something out of these,

and I've been all round the houses, and I've got an idea.

-I was hoping you might be able to help.

-Right, yep, go on.

I'm thinking...

..cheeseboard.

-Cheeseboard.

-Cheeseboard.

I have got a plan,

and it is to replace the blade with some oak from these planks.

-OK.

-So, make some sort of saw-shaped board.

-Are you with me?

-Yes.

Are you sure, Paul?

But maybe if I could draw around them,

then you could help with some of your power tools

-to get it all shaped up.

-Yes, that's all right, yeah.

Sarah starts by outlining the shape of the blade onto the wood.

It's going to get cut out and will replace the metal

to form the serving platter for the cheese.

Then it's over to Paul's high-powered cutting tools

to cut out the shape.

Yep, that's looking good.

That's amazing. I think that's going to be perfect.

Never one to see things go to waste,

Sarah's got an idea for those metal blades.

After all, she did spend ages polishing them.

So, can you cut this stuff?

I've got an angle grinder that will cut it.

How about we make a little cheese blade, kind of chopping blade?

I think it doesn't have to be too sharp

if it's going to be for cheese.

No, you could put a small edge on it, but not a razor edge.

Excellent. I reckon that could work.

-Let's get to it.

-Right.

Yeah, you CHEDDAR get on with it.

No standing STILTON now.

These jokes are cheesy.

The cost for the work is £43.

That's three quid for the wire wool and wax, and 40 for Paul's help.

Let's hope those cheeseboards don't cause any nightmares.

Ten miles away,

Josh and Oli are planning their copper and lead coffee table top.

We're thinking at the moment of doing splashes of copper on the top,

so we'll splash some copper first,

and then we're going to melt the lead afterwards

and form like a circular table top so that...

If you know what I mean, once you flip it over,

you'll have, like, splashes of copper with, like, a lead surround.

-So, that's the plan.

-That's the rough plan.

Hm...

That doesn't sound like the plan you discussed with Sarah, but hey-ho,

it's off to work you go.

The lads need to melt that metal first,

so it's out with the home-made furnace lined with cement.

And if things do get out of hand,

they've certainly got plenty of fire extinguishers.

Yeah, in case we need to...

put it out, there's a collection over here.

Josh starts the fire with some wood to build the heat slowly.

If you heat the furnace too quickly, the concrete will crack.

To make a mould for the molten metal,

we've got to use this special sand.

So, I'm going to fill up the square here with sand,

and then we can press our mould into that.

It's like they're on a little camping trip.

You having fun in your little sandpit, Oli?

Once the furnace is ready,

the boys use a long-reach gas blowtorch

to get the metal melting under way.

When working with types of materials like this,

Oli and Josh should be wearing protective gear like face shields,

gloves, leather aprons and respirators.

So, under no circumstances copy their bad behaviour.

How's that copper looking, then?

It doesn't look very melted to me.

If we can't melt the copper,

we should just cut our losses and just focus on the lead.

It's time to turf the copper

and make a new plan back at the workshop.

What the plan is, is to cut up lots of bits of copper and get some nice

little fittings like this,

and we're going to just sprinkle them into the lead.

The lead we should be able to melt,

because it's at a much lower melting temperature.

So, hopefully, the end result will be a table,

a lead table top with lots of interesting little bits in the top.

Like some sort of metal pizza, then.

It's a brave idea,

and absolutely nothing like the one you chatted to Sarah about.

All fired up again, it's time to turn the lead into liquid.

Lead is notoriously dangerous and extremely poisonous when heated.

Again, please remember to wear a face shield, gloves,

leather apron and respirator.

That's the lead melted.

Time for the creative bit -

pouring it into the table-top mould.

Beautifully done, boys.

It's...exquisite...is it?

It's a work of art.

Yep, a veritable masterpiece.

It looks like we just made a disgusting omelette!

No, I was right, Josh, it's a metal pizza.

And, yes, it does look disgusting.

But one way or the other,

you are going to need to serve something up to Sarah.

Well, I think we're both a bit disappointed,

but I think we kind of knew that

there was a good chance it wasn't going to work.

So...

Yeah.

-Back to the drawing board, I think.

-Back to the drawing board.

I can't wait to see if they turn this metal pizza

into something a lot more palatable.

In Marlow, Neil Wragg is getting to grips with those old kitbags.

He agreed to turn them from military to high-end fashion utility.

Come on, Neil, how are you going to do that?

So, we've got lots and lots of straps on them.

Which, to be honest, would just get in the way,

get caught in things.

So we're going to start to refine them a bit,

but use some of this old, rustic,

this really tough and good-looking fabrics

and add some leather and add some things with it.

Tough and good-looking.

Rather like myself, Neil.

To help bring down the military vibe,

Neil is thinking of using a whole heap of leather.

Just as well, he's got a whole bag of it.

What I've got here is lots of quite small offcuts of upholstery leather

that were all going to be thrown away

but what I can do is patchwork them together,

add them to the military canvas and come out with something, hopefully,

quite stunning.

Sounds like a big old, leathery, canvasey jigsaw puzzle.

To create a large piece of leather for the bag,

Neil's sticking the smaller pieces together with a permanent PVA glue.

Neil chose a supple leather because it's durable and hard-wearing.

Time to get out the trusty sewing machine

to tidy up the joints between the pieces.

Thread on, needle engaged, pedal down.

It's a bit of extra work to get them into

a big piece of leather

but it does mean we get some really luxurious, high-quality leather

from what was going to be thrown away.

Neil's finishing off with a bit of hand stitching.

And there we are,

one patchwork leather panel to go with the original bag.

I'm hoping I can make a complete bag just from this one square of canvas.

A smaller-style bag, big enough for a tablet, or bits and pieces,

phones, chargers, that kind of thing.

Still a shoulder bag, but having, now, the leather

as the flap that goes over the top.

Still early stages, but combining the military canvas

and the patchwork leather, I think Sarah's going to be pleased.

She'll only be pleased if it works, Neil.

At home in Sussex,

Sarah is unveiling her saw-inspired cheeseboards.

At the tip, they were just six rusty, dusty, musty, crusty old saws

but now you'd better pass me the crackers and pickle, because

these cheeseboards are very tasty.

All that elbow grease hasn't gone to waste.

Just look at those handles.

They've scrubbed up a treat.

The handles have been screwed into the oakwood pieces

to make the serving surface.

The old metal blades have been repurposed

and given wooden handles, too,

ready for their new life as cheese cutters.

Though there are only five saws now

as Sarah used one as a test make.

What a journey.

From saws to signs to...

Cheeseboards.

These are so much better than the signs, I think.

They'd make lovely presents, too.

So, hopefully, some good sales here.

Sarah used all her charms to take these saws

from the back of carpenter Keith's car.

I'm just getting rid of a few old saws and bits and pieces.

You've got hundreds of those.

I bought that when I was an apprentice.

-Ten years ago, then.

-Yeah!

-Fantastic.

Keith was happy to hand them over.

And even had his own ideas about what she could do with them.

Weld them together, make a sculpture, something like that.

Sarah's grafted hard and it's paid off.

The White Horse hotel in Chichester bought all five saws,

and deputy manager Anita

is delighted with her quirky new cheeseboards.

I think they're absolutely fabulous. They're unique.

They suit the pub and I think our customers would absolutely love them.

But how much did the hotel pay for them?

Sarah is in Timperley to reveal all to Keith.

-Hi there, Keith.

-Hi. Morning.

-How are you doing?

-All right, yes.

-Nice to see you again.

-Yes.

I first met you at the recycling centre

and you were dropping off all those saws that you used to work with.

Those old saws had great wear and tear on them

from all your hard work.

-Did you wonder what we might do with them?

-I did. Yes.

-It was a bit of a puzzle that, yes.

-This is what happened to your saws.

I've turned them into cheeseboards.

-Oh, right.

-I've used the blades to make choppers

and used all of the lovely detailing on the handles to make the handles of the boards.

-So, what do you think of those?

-Very unusual, yes.

-What do you think?

-Very good, that, yes.

Well, they do look lovely.

Those marks that you had made on the handles of those beautiful old saws,

even the carvings on them, just looked so decorative.

And now they're useful as well.

A pub that's close to me has bought them.

-Oh, right.

-And I've got some profit here to give to you.

In fact, I have £187 for you.

-Flippin' heck! Didn't expect that!

-I love a surprise.

Yeah. It's brilliant.

So, to put you on the spot, what are you going to do with that?

-I don't know. Go out for a meal, for a start. Yeah.

-Great.

-Really good.

-Well, it was lovely to be able to reuse them.

I hope you don't mind that I cut them up.

But they've definitely got a new lease of life and loads of people are going to use them.

-Certainly.

-You'll have to go to the pub. I'll tell you where it is.

-Right. OK.

-Fantastic.

Really good to catch up.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you. Bye-bye.

-Bye now.

Sarah spent £43 on the saws.

She sold them for a total of £230.

That's a cracking profit of £187

which Keith can spend on a right good old slap-up meal.

In Halnaker, Sarah is heading to see

how Josh and Oli's lead and copper pipe coffee table has turned out.

Give as a smile, Oli.

I think what we've ended up here with is pretty cool.

We're pleased with it.

It's good, because if we hadn't have experimented with it,

then we wouldn't have come up with this.

Ooh, I'm excited now.

I reckon Sarah's going to be well chuffed with that.

Do you, now, Josh?

I like a confident man.

I'm here to see if Josh and Oli can turn a pile of old pipe

into a fantastic table.

It's a massive challenge, this one.

I can't wait to see what they've done.

Josh and Oli were presented with a twisted mangle

of copper and lead pipes

but now...

..it's a unique, nature-inspired coffee table.

They have inlaid the table top with bark

and poured in molten lead to seal it in place,

creating a one-of-a-kind and totally original surface design.

The table's smooth base is crafted

to complement the rough feel of the table top.

They definitely needed to go back to the drawing board.

And, wow!

Have they pushed the creative boat out with this amazing table?

-Hello!

-Hello, how are you doing?

-Yeah, good.

-Oh, my word! Is that the pipes?

-That's the pipes!

-Oh, wow!

That wasn't what we discussed, was it?

-No.

-We had a complete meltdown, if you like.

A meltdown. I like what you've done there.

Kind of cool, though, isn't it?

I mean, very interesting surface, isn't it?

Yes. I kind of see this as

it's almost as if the tree is bleeding molten metal

through the bark.

I think it's got a real appeal and I'm sorry it took so much heartache

-to get here.

-That's all right.

It looks handmade and I think that helps in selling it.

-So I think despite all the trauma, it's a real success.

-Good.

Good work, Josh and Oli. I knew you could do it.

It's just worked really well.

And I'm glad that this worked

rather than the other ideas, because they were naff.

So...it's cool.

Well, I think the old pipes did give the boys a few headaches.

What they've created is a beautiful-looking table, though.

But it is a niche one

and I might have my work cut out making much money on that one.

The tangled web of copper and lead pipes were rescued

from the back of Sean's car.

There's loads of it. It must weigh a ton.

It's quite heavy if you have to lift it all up in one go.

Happy to hand them over,

Sean even had a few ideas about what she could do with them.

I'd melt it down.

It would be nice to sort of mould something with it.

A statue, or something like that.

Not only did those old pipes get melted down...

..Josh and Oli made this creative molten lead

and tree bark coffee table.

To try and sell this incredible one-off, Sarah took to social media,

posting it on Instagram, eBay and Etsy.

But were there any takers?

To reveal all, Sarah's heading to Sean's house in Altrincham.

-Hi there.

-Oh, hello.

-How are you doing, Sean?

-Good, thanks. Nice to see you.

I said I'd be back in contact.

-You did, yes.

-Because I was talking a big game at the tip about

taking your pipes away and making something from them.

-Did you wonder what I might make?

-My partner, Joe, and I, my partner,

we were speculating on what exactly it would be.

Whether it would be sort of a sculpture

or some of these new lamps or something.

Just, you know, interested to see.

I took it to a couple of great guys called Josh and Oli.

And I've got some pictures here to show you what they made.

-Oh, fabulous.

-So here is what your lead became.

Oh, wow. I wouldn't have expected that.

They made a beautiful, really crisp coffee table.

And they put lovely bark on the top of it.

-And then used your lead to...

-Wow.

-..pull it all together.

I never would have... That's beautiful.

I never would have envisaged that, not at all.

-So that's a surprise, then?

-That's a big surprise. I just...

There's a market close by that we go to.

You see pipes remade into things,

and I've not seen anything like that.

-That's fabulous.

-So it's still for sale.

It's a beautiful-looking thing,

it's a good coffee table, and I've never seen anything like what they've done with it.

So I'm hoping that it will be sold soon,

and when it does I shall come back and give you the profit.

-Marvellous, thank you very much.

-Lovely, really good to catch up.

-OK, cheers. You, too.

-Thank you so much.

-Thanks a lot.

-Bye-bye.

The table cost £500 to make.

But it hasn't sold yet.

So it's a potential loss of £500.

But it's just a matter of time

before Sarah finds someone to snap it up.

At Neil Wragg's workshop in Marlow,

he's buckling up his bags ready to show Sarah.

The old bags have taken quite a transformation.

They've gone from canvas to Italian designer leather.

So I think Sarah's going to be very pleased.

I've been called to action in Marlow to find out if Neil has transformed

those bags, used his special forces

to create something saleable and stylish.

Stand by, ready for inspection.

Sarah left Neil with these skip-bound military bags.

And now...

..they are totally transformed.

The Italian tan leather patchwork

complements the military green canvas.

They've been stitched together lovingly

to create a bespoke one-off design.

Fasteners have been salvaged from the original bags,

and he's added two new brass buckles -

the essence of military chic.

Sterling job, Neil.

I salute you. But what will Sarah make of them?

There's one.

Mr Wragg!

Oh, my word. It's got another one.

And there's number two.

Beautifully done.

So we've got Italian designer leather...

..added to what was a cape carrier.

With an antique map lining.

Beautiful. They look just like what is on trend at the moment.

-Great.

-It's that rustic look.

All of the beautiful wear.

Just repackaged very cleverly.

Really clever. And I really want them.

I'd want them.

So pleased with those. Always a pleasure to see you.

-Wonderful.

-I shall let you know where these end up,

-because I think they're going to be leaving me very soon.

-Great.

A successful mission completed, then.

Well, I'm very pleased with Sarah's reaction.

It did take a lot of work,

but I had decided to use this

high-quality Italian designer leather offcut

to patchwork them together.

It took extra work, but I think the end result really proved that it was worth it.

I think these are a beautiful recommission,

and I reckon they'll be on a tour of duty very soon.

Sarah found the old kitbags resting in David's car.

-So was this yours?

-My son's.

He was in the ATC and he wore this when he was doing field expeditions.

On manoeuvres?

And David was more than happy for Sarah to save the bags from the tip.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

I much prefer it being reused in some way,

-rather than simply recycled or whatever.

-Yeah.

David hadn't a clue what Sarah could do with them.

And now they're completely transformed.

Even better - Sarah has sold them both to Smithers of Stamford,

a retro and vintage retailer.

And owner Nick is a big fan of Neil's work.

Yeah, I really like Neil's bags.

I don't think we're going to have any problem shifting these.

But saying that, I think I'm going to keep this one for myself,

because it's really nice.

But we've got this one, though.

This would be really good for the ladies, I think.

Nick is happy, but how much did he pay for them?

Sarah's in Altrincham to tell David how much she made

from his son's old kitbags.

-Hi there, David.

-Hi, Sarah.

-Nice to see you again.

Good to see you, too.

Now, I said I'd come and catch up with you

if there was something to be done with the bags

that you were dropping off at the tip.

So I took your bags to a guy named Neil,

and Neil is actually a fantastic bag-maker.

So all those other bits of bags that were inside,

he's transformed them into more bags.

So here's some pictures of how they've ended up.

That's unbelievable.

He's combined it with some lovely pieces of leather

and turned them into a couple of really usable bags.

-Yeah, they're designer label. Superb.

-What do you think of that?

The fact you've introduced other material is a key thing.

I couldn't imagine how you could just use those canvas things.

But that's really good.

They're now a really good, usable pair of bags.

And they've been bought by a website

who sell all sorts of things like this that are retro.

And I've got some profit for you.

-In fact, I have £70 here...

-That's amazing.

..from the sale of those bags made out of your old bags.

-So that's for you.

-That's really great. Thank you very much.

And I always ask, what might you do with £70?

It's obvious, isn't it?

It goes to Richard. He can decide what to do with it.

Richard is David's son, who owned the bags in the first place.

Has he got anything that he is saving up for or doing

that you might think of at the moment?

-It's his wedding on 1st July next year, so...

-That is...

Yeah, down in Colchester.

So I'm sure that he will find something to spend it on

-between now and then, in fact.

-It was lovely to catch up with you.

Thank you so much for letting us have the bags.

-And I hope he puts that to good use.

-He will do.

-Brilliant.

-Thank you, Sarah.

-Bye-bye.

Sarah spent £150 on the two bags

which she then sold for £220.

That's a great profit of £70.

Well done, Sarah. Job done.

Sarah saved three unwanted items from the tip.

And with a bit of love, attention and creativity,

they've been transformed into wonderful, fresh, desirable objects.

We've taken three unwanted items and transformed them into stylish pieces

that are going to be used and enjoyed for many more years to come.

For me, that's definitely a happy ending.