Re: Re: Re: St Petersburg and plating


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Posted by Chuck(G) on March 02, 2004 at 02:18:20:

In Reply to: Re: Re: St Petersburg and plating posted by Daniel C. Oberloh on March 01, 2004 at 23:59:32:

Dan's right on this one--nickel is a great "all purpose" plating that resists tarnishing. It's used as a strike coat on steel and an undercoat for chromium plating.

I've had a couple of instruments that were nickel-plated back in the 30's and they still polish up just fine with a little metal polish. The Belgians, in particular, used nickel on their brass instruments and Conn used it for some of the Pan American line. Most of the stuff holds up wonderfully and resists scratching quite well.

Aside from the sensitivity of some to nickel causing contact dermatitis, most people don't have a problem handling it. Most of the shiny screws in that PC you're sitting in front of are nickel-plated.

Nickel, perhaps more than any other plating, can be varied in appearance from bright to near-black, depending on the plating solutions and current. Nickel can even be plated chemically without an electrical current--called "electroless nickel".

A bad plating job, no matter what metal, is a nightmare. If the plating fails on St. Petes, it's probably the fault of the plater, not the process.



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