Jeff K. Eagle Project

THE Project:

This project consists of 2 major parts. The first step is the complete restoration of a historical metal sign. The second step is the construction of a wooden display structure for the sign.

I went to the Orphans of the Storm animal Shelter located at 2200 Riverwoods Road , Riverwoods , IL 60015 and had meetings with the staff. We discussed the needs of the shelter and the requirements for Eagle projects. Jackie Borchew the shelter’s volunteer historian said that she was in the process of collecting all kinds of data about the shelter consisting of family movies, pictures and magazine articles written by Irene Castle the founder. She thought it would be a great idea if the project could tie into the shelters history.

In 1928 there was an actress; dancer named Irene Castle who with her friend Hank Swift scouted out Lake County for a piece of property where they could create an animal refuge. They found a wooded property that already had a kennel on it that was far enough away from their hectic Hollywood lifestyle. The 11 acre property was large enough so they could take in a decent amount of strays as well as provide good living space for the animals. They decided to name it Orphans of the Storm after an old movie about little orphan girls. The shelter has had its ups and down’s over the years almost going out of business in 1965. Since then it has become the largest shelter in Illinois and one of the largest in the country.

While going through the shelter’s historical memorabilia the original sign used in the 1920’s was discovered in a closet. The sign was created by a metal artist for the shelter and was retired for some unknown reason.

Restoring this sign and displaying it will present visitors to Orphans of the Storm a look into the history of the animal shelter. It will be a symbol of the credibility of the shelter and show that it has been an active part of the community for many years. My project will educate visitors to Orphans of the Storm about the history and its reason for existing.

The Details:

I will be leading a group of boys in the restoration and re-mounting of an historical sign from orphans of the storm. We will be taking the sign to an automobile restoration shop that works on vintage Rolls Royce’s where we will bring the sign back to its original condition.

The steps of restoring the sign begin with photographing the existing sign so we have a reference point for restoration which will eventually require repainting it exactly the way it was. We will completely clean the sign to remove all the dirt and grease using various chemical degreasers and solvents. The next step will be stripping all the paint. This will be accomplished by using chemical strippers and sandblasting. The strippers will be used to remove the paint. The sandblasting will be used to remove the rust.

At this point any metal on the sign that is bent will be hammered back into place. Once this is done any metal that has holes from the rust will be filled with fiberglass resin or metal using a welder. Next we will sand the resin and or file the metal smooth.

Then we will paint the sign. The black frame of the sign will be treated with a metal restoration coating system called POR15. The bare metal is first treated with Metal Ready conditioner and painted with POR15 black paint. The body of the sign will be sprayed with an etching primer to ensure that the paint will stick to the metal. Then the sign will be sprayed white and the details painted to match the picture.

The display for the sign will be a wooden structure 5.5 feet tall and 2.5 feet wide. similar to the sign pictured to the left. It has 2 4x4 posts that are dug into the ground like a fence post. Between the posts is a 2’ x 4’ board where the steel sign will be mounted. The sign will have display lettering shown on the drawing that was specified by Orphans of the Storm.

We will build the sign at Mr. Hirsch's house and then schedule a day where we will install it at Orphans of the Storm.

The boys strip the paint from the metal sign

Jeff lays out the pieces for assembly

Here's what the sign will look like mounted on the display. Jeff discusses stain color with Jackie