Question about Prepping for Plating Options

[aggiezig]

Hey World,

I'm getting to the point where I am gathering up all my hardware to be re-plated. I've tumbled a lot of pieces and then stripped old plating off with some muriatic acid and coated with WD-40 for storage until ready to plate.

I'm having a tough time finding someone who plates smaller jobs here in the Houston area. Most of the plating shops are geared towards the oil/gas industry and take on massive jobs. I've reached out to a couple of local restoration shops to see if they'd share their contacts but no luck so far. Does anyone know of any Houston area platers?

I also have a few questions I thought I'd ask you all...

1. Is there any resource to check and know if something should be clear or yellow? Or are folks just doing what looks best?
2. I'm assuming most everyone is running with zinc plating as cadmium is hard to come by?
3. Do intricate parts like latch catch mechanisms need to be completely broken down or can they be plated with their rivets and such in tact?
4. Is there a minimum amount of prep work I should be doing on these pieces before dropping them off? The smaller parts are easy to tumble but I don't have access to a blasting cabinet anymore for the larger bits.

I'm sure I'll think of a few other questions but that's whats burning in my mind at the moment. Would appreciate any feedback!