Eagles will fly again for TV

MILFORD — The “History Detectives” came to Milford to film a segment for a PBS TV show about the recent discovery of a 13-foot wingspan cast-iron eagle that once may have adorned the first Grand Central Station in New York. The film crew went to visit Donald Quick of Architectural Iron Company (AIC) a Schocopee Road specialty company that is engaged in the recreation and restoration of 18th and 19th century cast and wrought iron works. Quick and PBS show host Wes Cowan were filmed doing an unscripted interview on the process of creating cast iron ornamental works. Deborah Kurtz, director, and John Havard, cameraman, along with a small crew, set up the filming project in the large main building of AIC. This segment of the show centered around a two-part epoxy “negative” of the eagle head. The epoxy negative is coated with silicone and more epoxy is used to create two positives of the eagle head. The positives are used to create two halves of the eagle head in sand-filled frames. They’re then banded together and called a flask. Molten cast iron is poured into the flask which forms the solid eagle head. After completion the head and the rest of the eagle body, (pictured below left) which is hollow, are painted with 24-karat gold to give them the remarkable shiny golden finish, Quick explained. A short distance away is a smaller building which houses the foundry. Here a large piece of cast iron was being melted down by a flame below the cauldron; flame which was so intense it sounded like a jet engine. The molten iron is heated to about 2800 degrees and then poured into the flask. “After we pour the molten mixture into the sand filled flask it has to cool down for at least 24 hours before being handled,” said Tom Dayton foundry manager. Quick told the Courier that AIC is currently working on 26 different projects from park benches for the city of Pittsburgh to fancy ornamental handrails for a private home in Brooklyn. Quick became involved in the business while working as a property manager for the First Church of New York, located in lower Manhattan, back in 1978. While trying to get the deteriorated iron fence of the church restored, he had a friend who worked at a foundry in New England cast new fencing. From there he learned more about metal casting and AIC had its beginnings. “Each sand mold can only be used once. To make a single eagle’s head from start to finish can cost nearly $250,000,” Quick told Cowan during the interview. Deborah Kurtz of PBS is a freelancer working on about a 15-minute segment of the “History Detectives” show which will be aired some time this summer. According to Kurtz they have not yet found the creator of the giant eagle which may have come from Grand Central Station. The 13-foot wingspan eagle was discovered at the Space Farms Zoo and Museum in Sussex, N.J.