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!

From my experience, anything you beadblast needs to be smoothed out on a wire wheel or you will have a drab 'sandpaper' finish under the plating. . tumbled parts seem to turn out well. . Latches can be plated as a unit, just need to be well cleaned. . the more you do the better the finished job. I hand wire wheel clean every bolt after blasting.
I found a local shop that is accommodating to small lots. . usually $50 to $80 for a group of small parts. . seems to work out to about $1 a part for nuts bolts clamps and other same sized parts.

Depending on how much stuff you have, a large flat rate box from the Post Office is around 14.00 and there is no real weight limit.
So you don't have to stay that local.
I've shipped a flywheel, pressure plate and disc cross country that way.
in one box..
You have done all the hard work already...

Yeah I learnt that the hard way. From my limited experience having everything clean really helps but you don't have to go over the top. It sounds like you have that in hand.

The vast majority is plated zinc and yellow. It's fairly obvious as to what parts are just plain.

70 pound limit. Works great for heavy stuff but its a good idea to double box and use a lot of packing tape to reinforce the box if you intend to go heavy.

I hadn’t thought about flat rate. That’s a good idea.

If going out of state, who would you guys recommend that won’t break the bank?

It's like painting. All of the real work is before the color goes on. You can see some of my adventures in playing here http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?s=&...t&p=2494547