question on nickel plateing?

[johnson1942]

i have a trigger guard that is made of brass but nickel plated. the nickel is worn in a couple of spots where the brass is showing. can i have this nickel paled over the whole thing to a new nickel finish or does it have to be stripped to all the brass before renickel plating. thanks before hand.

[lefty o]

should be stripped and polished before plating. now technically you could just plate it, but it would look very very bad.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Agree. Spot plating will raise the thickness of the plating at that location and look different from the remaining original plating.

[Walkingwolf]

Is it nickel plated or silver plated? Nickel holds up pretty well, OTH silver does not, and gets polished more often.

If it is a SA revolver grip from from Uberti it may very well be silver plate.

[johnson1942]

just as what i suspected, im going to have to take the plating off and have it replated. i dont know if it is silver or nickel. was advertised as nickel.

[Walkingwolf]

just as what i suspected, im going to have to take the plating off and have it replated. i dont know if it is silver or nickel. was advertised as nickel.

Who advertised it as nickel, if it was the manufacturer it probably is. If somebody just told you it is nickel, and it is a Uberti it probably is silver. You do not have to have the silver removed to plate it again. The silver plating is very thin, you won't have problems with build up. You can also tell if it is silver by comparing to known chrome, like on your car.

[johnson1942]

uberti advertised it as nickel plated.however you maybe 100 percent correct. ive looked at a new part and it says nickel plated. the reason im not going for a new one is if i have to replate im going to smooth out all the tool marks and scratches on the inside of the trigger guard. uberti doent do much finishing in that area.

[Walkingwolf]

uberti advertised it as nickel plated.however you maybe 100 percent correct. ive looked at a new part and it says nickel plated. the reason im not going for a new one is if i have to replate im going to smooth out all the tool marks and scratches on the inside of the trigger guard. uberti doent do much finishing in that area.

Must have been thinly plated for the nickel to wear through, not what I would expect from Uberti.

Is the whole gun nickel? That would make sense, I have two Uberti 51 Navy conversions, both blue, both have silver plated grip frames.

[johnson1942]

its a nickel plated 1871 1872 open top 38 special. nice gun and had a blemish on top of the trigger guard and rubbed on it a little with a cloth and it was really thin there, (the nickel).

[Blackwater]

Most all nickel plating of blued metals requires that it first be plated with brass, and THEN plated over with nickel. I've had it explained to me why this is necessary, but don't recall the reason. Metal plating CAN be really ticky about the proceedures used. If you have it replated, you might consider electroless nickel plating, which I believe is a good bit more durable than elecroplated nickel. But that may be only for blued steel, and your part is brass already. E-nickel is a little "whiter" in appearance than electroplated stuff. I think part of the underlying brass kind'a shines through? So I'm not sure how or whether elecroless will work on brass, but it sure can be pretty! The gunsmith I worked under for a while on retiring, did a blued Ruger SA and it came out wondrously pretty. The cop, who was retiring and wanted to shoot cowboy action, was amazed when he picked it up, and VERY happy. I do think elecroless is a tougher finish, if that matters to you. The thinner coat seems to be more durable, and it's alegedly at least, a good bit harder than when laid over brass. How that will affect your brass part, I do not know. Good luck with it.