All About Pocket Knives

Anyone on here dabble in plating? They show doing this on YouTube but hasn't worked out well for me. Maybe other have experience, if so shoot me a pm. Thanks

I do plating.
Suggest we discuss it here, so that others can benefit.

just bob wrote: ↑Mon Dec 05, 2022 5:32 pm Anyone on here dabble in plating? They show doing this on YouTube but hasn't worked out well for me. Maybe other have experience, if so shoot me a pm. Thanks

I too would be interested in learning about plating. Why keep it a secret?

Thanks for responding Bill and no secrets here at all. It isn't related to pocket knives, so I thought better to go through pm. I'm working with Zippo lighters. In many cases the plating is worn and almost gone. I watched several YouTube videos on silver plating and thought I could clean and replate these myself. As the old adage says it isn't as easy as they make it look. In fact, using the 6V battery method I had no success at all and gave up on the idea. I looked into buying one of those Caswell systems and decided the items I'm working with wouldn't justify the cost. Likewise, I know you have a reputation for high end, quality repair work on collector items Bill and my projects aren''t worthy of your attention. I was hoping that maybe there was a hobbyist amongst us that dabbled in plating and could offer some assistance. Most of these lighters have a value of $25 or less so they just don't justify professional repair. I appreciate your response and the interest of others.

Zippos are chrome plated, not silver plated. I think chrome is harder to do than silver, and silver won't match the original finish and wear off faster than chrome.

Gunsil is correct.
My suggestion is to sand off all of the chrome and nickel plate the cases. Nothing will match the chrome. Hydrochloric acid will strip chrome, but it will also attack the brass.
Electroplating isn't hard. You just have to know what metals will plate on what. I use Caswell plating solutions for nickel, electroless nickel, electroless cobalt.
I don't know if they are still in business, but Texas Plater's Supply used to sell great little brush plating kits. I have contact info for them if you want it.