Plating

[inrustwetrust]

A quick bit of info in regards to plating. The best thing you can do after you get your plating work back is to soak it in hot oil. My choice is straight 30W nondetergent oil. Leave it in for about an hour. When you take it out, wipe it off, but don't degrease. When assembling plated parts, use straight 30W nondetergent on everything. It's messy and makes your spotless restoration look terrible. There are lots of spray wax cleaners that work great in getting the last bits of oil off. I use a product called wash-wax by Aero Cosmetics. Another I've heard of is Final Inspection. You will thank yourself for doing this five years down the road when you look at it and don't see any rust growing out of all of the crevaces. Your knuckles will thank you when you try to take it apart.

[AdminGuy]

Ok, why not. It can't hurt. Why not just wax it before installation? Anyone else?

I'm thinking of electroless nickel plating a set of barrels myself. Never done nickel before. missed Georges east coast talk. Looking for advice. Even if its just - don't bother, and drop it off at a shop.

[inrustwetrust]

Waxing is great for the big stuff, but I was primarily thinking about the small stuff like nuts and bolts and little brackets etc. When a part that has been rusted is replated, there are always a few spots that, although not visible are porous. Those porous spots have plating residue in them which is highly corrosive. Give it a little air and water and it blossoms. Non detergent motor oil will not accept water and it keeps the air out too. As far as electroless, it is easy to get a nice coat of nickel deep into the fins, but it did not exist prior to about WW2 and the color is different from straight nickle with no brightener as was more typical of pre-war. I prefer to go straight nickle, however electroless doesn't look that bad as far as color goes and you are more likely to get it right the first time. If you don't have the capabilities to properly prepare the piece for plating, forget doing it yourself. Don't forget to weigh in the time spent learning, and probably redoing in the beginning. Also factor in the cost of everything required to do it.