Nickel info

[gmborkovic]

To my nickel fans in the club, pls post any articles or books that cover the process of plating. Need an education. Mike 2796

 

[Wiregrassguy]

Caswell Plating has a number of "how-to" articles on plating. YouTube also has videos on the plating process.

 

[gmborkovic]

I mis-wrote. I meant nickel plating specific to S&W. Mike

 

[opoefc]

Mike, Look back through the Forum postings and the issues of the S&WCA Journal and early Newsletters. If I recall right, there are various comments, articles and entries, mostly by Roy Jinks, that deal with S&W finishing processes, including the different types of S&W nickel plating over the years. Ed.

 

[rhmc24]

This is about nickeling I'm doing on one of my projects today. This is mostly from what I wrote about it today. ---- Today I checked into what I had used a few years back & found I had an unopened bottle of nickel, a kind of loose paste. Checked out my power source and found all working OK. Reviewing the 3 pages of info that came with it I decided to try their phone number 214 330 7168 for Texas Plater's Supply. In searching for them on the internet I had come to the conclusion they were defunct. They answered and said still in business. I had plated about a dozen guns using their stuff dating back over 30 years.

It's a simple procedure, after polish, I sprayed it good with brake degreaser few times, wiping after each till the paper towel came out clean. Buffing leaves residue that's invisible & needs removed. After that I play my Mapp gas torch on it a few seconds to burn off any degreaser that may remain & sweat the surface a bit. Then dip the special brush into the plating paste, set my DC power source to about 5 volts and connected up properly, plate the surface with short strokes at about a square inch a minute. Three flashlite cells will give 4.5 volts, plenty of power. After the work I wash off the mess with soap & hot water.

Below is one of my DIY projects using the same nickel plating kit about 30 years ago.

I ordered the Caswell kit which was doing its job but was a tedious process for me which caused my going back in time per 1st paragraph.

S&W TL I bought at OK City gun show 1981 for $140, before & after ----

 

[BigBill]

S&W has been doing nickel plating all the way back to the 1800's.
There the only one still doing revolvers to this day.

Even the Russian zar's son placed an order for there revolvers in 44 Russian for some in nickel finish.

The world famous s&w nickel finish rocks.

 

[DWalt]

I have read several times that S&W used no copper substrate prior to nickel plating - Nickel was applied directly over steel. True or not, I do not know. Nickel electroplating is a fairly simple procedure. I have nickel plated numerous small hardware items (but no guns) very satisfactorily using some fairly simple materials, mainly a nickel ammonium sulphate solution and a small automobile battery charger. Proprietary plating chemicals are undoubtedly better than my home-made ones.

 

[rhmc24]

Here is the nickel job I was doing in the post above. It is a 1904 Colt New Service .44-40. Had a bad bore & replaced it with a piece of .44 Mag barrel. Grips are barkless stag.



I notice my engraving (90 now) is not as good as I did 30-40 years ago.