Nickle plated ANYthing!

[700rpm]

Why is it so hard to find nickel plated items? Like headlight shells and proper screws? Nickel is part of the chrome plating process, if done correctly. Why don't the mfgrs of repro parts leave them in nickle? It would have to be cheaper, wouldn't it?

[Tom Wesenberg]

I've asked the same thing and never got an answer.

[MikeK]

Well, yes and no. The nickel applied over the copper in applications that are intended for chrome is only thick enough to impart a white metal base color. In most cases the nickel is deposited 'brite', with organic plating additives that circumvent mechanical polishing, saving labor costs. If you strip the chrome off a part (easy- just apply HCl) you will find the very thin nickel under it much too thin to stand up to polishing.

If that part is to have a true polished nickel finish it must be mechanically polished, another labor step. The metal must be heavier to have any durability, as nickel oxidizes and will need occasional polishing which will impart wear and loss of metal. Laying a heavy coat of nickel with brighteners in an attempt to eliminate mechanical polishing will result in a surface that is slightly wavy, something like enamel 'orange peel' but much smaller. A fine eye for detail will easily notice the inferior reflection of a heavy brite Ni layer vs. a polished layer.

Basically, you get what you pay for, and with the exception of the fine-point boys (and gals!) nobody is going to pay the major cost of quality polished nickel. From a marketing standpoint, a repop part that is done that way at a higher price is a lame-duck- not good for fine-point which requires original parts, and maintenance intensive on the everyday A parked in a non-climate controlled place and driven once in a while to a club meeting or function.

[SeaSlugs]

What Mike K said - nickle tarnishes quick, chrome doesnt and is rather hard till you get a chip in it.

[700rpm]

Originally Posted by SeaSlugs

What Mike K said - nickle tarnishes quick, chrome doesnt and is rather hard till you get a chip in it.

Thank you, Mike, for a more complete explanation. I have not noticed that the nickel on my 29 Tudor, headlights and radiator shell, which was done over 30 years ago, has ever required any polishing or displayed any tarnishing. I have noticed that it has begun to wrinkle, though, which I like, because it is beginning to look like original material. Nickel to me just has a nicer, warmer, more antique feel than chrome.

[MikeK]

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I agree about the look. The warmer antique look of polished nickel beats cold chrome.

[DougVieyra]

All the nickle plating on my '28 Phaeton, done 35 years ago, is now a very tired looking plating. But in fairness, the nickle on my '28 Phaeton only received attention for the first five years of service - after that, the next thirty years, none of the nickle received any attention at all. With the high cost of plating, I doubt that I will ever re-plate the tired-looking nickle. But IF I do, as the car is no longer a 'Show Car', I would most likely re-plate with the much superior (to maintain) chrome.

On the other hand, with no attention at all, All the chrome on my Dlx '31 Coupe still looks good.

As a practical matter, Henry Ford (and Edsel) had it right when they shifted to Chrome and Stainless Steel.

[Keith True]

I have blasted and refinished a lot of iron kitchen cookstoves over the years.In the mid 80's I took a bunch of the trim to a plater to be re-nickled.A good nickle finish was almost exactly double the price of chrome.Most people opted for the chrome,they just wanted shiny,but some knew and liked the look of the nickle.I remember to chrome the trim on a Crawford Grand stove it was around $500,to do it in nickle it was around $950.That was in 1985 or 86.

[Kevin in NJ]

Plating as I understand it.

First off you need to think of chrome plating as a clear coat that adds a blue tint to the yellowish tone of nickel. It also seals, sort of, the nickel from oxidation so it does not tarnish. Decorative chrome is 'porous' hence the light corrosion you find on the plated items that have sat for a while.

There are 3 common types of nickel baths. There are two that require buffing after plating and then bright nickel where oxidizers are added to make them bright out of the tank. As long as the copper step is buffed out the bright nickel comes out and just needs to be rinsed. The other two nickels were earlier. One was used on older stuff like that 1800's fancy carriage. Then there is the dull or Watt's bath that was in used during the 30's- 40's. Both needed to be polished after plating. The back side of the bumpers show what unpolished dull nickel would look like.

Something that was told to me. A person had NOS 28-29 headlight rings and had the buckets bright nickel plated. The rings did not tarnish very fast, but like every year the buckets needed to be polished. This makes since as they use oxidizers to get a bright nickel.
In relating this to a chrome plater in the GA area he said that makes lots of sense. I wish I could remember his name as I believe he would be a quality plater willing to do dull nickel.

Most shops only run a bright nickel tank. Paul's told me he did not have success chrome plating dull nickel many years ago. Limbrante (spelling?) told me to go away when I ask if he had a dull nickel tank. I got nasty comments from another guy at Hershey when I just asked if they do dull nickel plating. Frankford plating in Philadelphia does dull nickel and was the place where I learned about the earlier nickel process.

As for why they do the chrome process on all the new stuff, I am guessing MikeK has the right answer.

Getting plating done right is very expensive. Pretty does not mean functional.

As usual probably to much information.

[dave in australia]

Good response Kevin, but I would like to add that there are more than three common nickel baths. In the plating shop I worked in, we had five. Nickel sulphate, nickel sulphamate, nickel chloride, bright nickel sulphate, and electroless nickel. And there are more than these as well.
One other thing about bright nickel is that it has lower adhesion than the others. This is because the brighteners cause tensile stress in the layer of nickel, so it is trying to pull itself off the substrate by trying to curl up. This is one way that the nickel becomes bright and level.

[glenn in camino]

I dip chrome repo parts in muratic acid for about 5 or 10 minutes.