I would like to restore these to new - I have a few hundred. They were zinc plated and passivated with some kind of chrome but have not lasted. I would like to know the quickest method for getting them back to new. I tried polishing them but have found it quite slow so maybe an acid bath followed by nickle plating?
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I had a few bits plated way back.
I think that they reverse the plating process to remove any existing plate, then it's polished to take out any rust pits and prepare it for the plating.
It's then chemically cleaned and degreased, given a flash nickel coat, followed by a coat of chrome plate.
The really good work for custom bikes etc, is "triple plate" copper, then nickel then chrome. (or at least used to be)
It's not a cheap process, because of the labour involved.
As Bob suggests it's best to ask a platers.
Nickel alone isn't all that hard wearing, which is why they stopped using it alone for vehicle plating around 1930 IIRC.
Thanks people. I think asking a pro platers to do it in the first instance is a good idea and I sent off a few to get an accurate quote this morning. They don't have to look amazing so hopefully it won't be too expensive! Then I might look at powder coating and DiY plating. Cheers.
Just to let you know that I went to a Platers in Bristol. They gave me a price for 85p per large stirrer so I am going for that. They are putting on a good thick coating and getting a good finish. There process is just dissolving the old finish in strong acid and then rinsing off before replating. They have a lot of baths set up for just that process.
