February 23, 201610 yr Hi all, Just wondering if anyone has had experience plating their work? I make a lot of small objects (spoons, ladles, bottle openers etc...) and have wondered about getting some plated. How easy is it to plate hand forged work? My work is relatively rough (hammer marks etc...), I've been told it is much easier to plate smooth objects, I presume all scale etc. would have to be removed. I'm sure there are other things I haven't considered, so any thoughts or advice would gratefully received. Cheers, Nate
February 23, 201610 yr Check out Caswell plating http://www.caswellplating.com/electroplating-anodizing.html?gclid=CJ2goOHvjssCFQmqaQodNSYPGQ They sell "do it yourself" kits for all sorts of plating and anodizing but also have a lot of general information about what's involved if you sort through the sales information. About 400 years ago I had a little gold plating kit--results came out pretty well but I was just a kid making gold colored pennies.
February 25, 201610 yr Main thing in electro plating is to get surfaces clean. Not just soap and water clean but chemically clean. This involves stripper solutions and different steps depending on what your terminal goal is. I worked for a very brief time in an electro plating unit. ( I left when I realized that the only thing between me and death or serious disability was my own and my coworkers awareness of the dangers involved #Before OSHA#) You can do a semi job of throwing some copper on Iron with out much effort. but any thing more is serious study and a little expense.
February 26, 201610 yr Ah, science in jr. high school where we learned to dissolve copper in sulfuric acid and plate . . . stuff using a trickle of DC current, model train transformer. Heck, you could buy cupric sulfate at almost any dime store or pharmacy marketed in chemistry set labels. Ah the early '60s when a kid was allowed to do dangerous stuff. The kids who wouldn't or couldn't read the instructions and take precautions sometimes chlorinated their end of the gene pool early enough to do some good. And NO I'm not talking about home made contact explosives and thermite! Frosty The Lucky.
February 26, 201610 yr For all of the Silver and Gold hardware I use fro my blades, I have a commercial place plate it for me. I love it: I tell then the intended use, and explain I qam in no hurry, so I may wait a two weeks, but they plate it when they run another batch, saving me a lot of money against having them set up the plating tanks for only my 3 small pieces. The last time was double layers of Stirling Silver (Silver was selling @ $8.00 oz at the time) 4 pieces cost me $75.00 finished; for a cape, throat, pommel and bolsters, which I made of brass.
February 29, 201610 yr Thirty years ago I goldplated the chromium outlet plug of our bath tub using one of these kid's experiment set. It is still gold plated.
March 10, 201610 yr Author Thanks guys for your comments, might have to follow up on these plating kits!
March 22, 201610 yr It's certainly worth doing some serious research. Mostly you'll see electroplating kits, but it might also be worth looking into electroless Nickel if you are intending to plate uneven surfaces.
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