Photo by Joselyn King Workers from Mike’s Refinishing, of Finleyville, Pennsylvania, prepare to set into place the “Doughboy” statue at Wheeling Park following a restoration project. The company did extensive work to repair the gun and the hand touching the gun on the statue.

WHEELING – Wheeling’s “Doughboy” statue is back on its base at Wheeling Park, and now looks as good as new.

The statue was removed two months ago, and was returned to the park Monday morning following a $10,000 restoration of its gun and hand by Mike’s Refinishing, of Finleyville, Pennsylvania.

The statue last went through a major restoration and was rededicated in June 2021. At that time there was about $10,000 left from money raised for the project that was directed toward future maintenance of the statue, explained local historian Margaret Brennan.

The money would come in handy a year later when a derecho slammed the Wheeling area, with much of the worst damage happening near the entrance to Wheeling Park and the Doughboy statue.

“One of the trees came down on the statue, and it hit the hand and the gun,” Brennan said. “The people here straightened it, but there were holes. I would look at it and see there was rust starting.

“We had $10,000 left over from the rededication, but the problem is you can’t find these people (metal restorers) on trees,” she continued. “You don’t have the statue go with just anybody.”

Brennan credited Jason Weiss of Boswell Monuments with connecting local historians with Mike’s Refinishing, the same company who crafted the plaque for McColloch’s Leap. The company came to Wheeling two months ago with the goal of removing the statue, taking it back with them to their shop and returning it by Memorial Day.

In the end, it was decided not to rush the work and take some time past Memorial Day.

The statue is made of copper, and weighs between 275 and 300 pounds, according to Mike Boso, owner of Mike’s Refinishing. He added that, if it were a bronze statue, its weight would be closer to 900 pounds.

Bozo said the first issue they encountered after coming to Wheeling was finding a tall rod within the statue that prohibited them from immediately pulling it from its base. He and his wife Karen had to drive back to Finleyville to find the right drilling tool for the job at their shop, then return to Wheeling.

Later, once he began the restoration, Boso realized the damage to the gun was worse than first thought and it couldn’t be restored. A new gun for the statue had to be crafted.

“I cut it in half and tried to hammer it out, but it was too much,” he said.

And since the statue was already in the shop, Boso applied a new patina protection that makes the statue appear a deep green color.

“It’s a cold chemical patina. You warm the statue a little and it makes the statue turn green,” he said. “It oxides it. We had to do it twice.

“After that, we put a verde wax on it. Then buff it out. We did two coats of that.”

He suggested the statue be maintained with an application of a sculptor’s wax each year. The green color should remain over the years.