recroming ?

[nikkelectrik]

If anyone has been down the road of getting their Bumper and trim Rechromed  can you just spitball me roughly what that cost was and maby the pro you used for the  restore. Thank you

[Doc]

Tri-City Plating in Elizabethton, Tn.  Front bumper $425, four bumper guards $105 each. Turnaround was < 4 weeks.  Shipping to the rechromer was a pricey $150 via UPS. No place I can recommend for other trim pieces. Places I used either went out of business or failed to continue quality service.

[Fid]

AAA Metal Finishing in St. Paul, MN does a great job and always gives me reasonable prices.
http://aaametalfinishing.com/

I haven't had a bumper done there, but they did do 4 bumper guards for me in 2002 and at that time, only charged me $35 apiece.
They recently did the tail light bodies on my '53 Henry J and that was $180 for the pair - they are die cast.

[Gordie]

Copper plating is in the process before nickle and the chrome.  Because of the high cost of copper many platers skip that step and the result is that it looks good for awhile but then gets dull.  Because of EPA requirements for chrome platers it is beginning to be a nightmare for us trying to get  the job done for a reasonable cost.  The original plating on Kaisers and Frazers was high quality and many parts cars still have nice looking chrome.  That is an option if you can find one.

[nikkelectrik]

Wow thank you guys very much. Awesome thank you

[51Deluxe]

  The original plating on Kaisers and Frazers was high quality and many parts cars still have nice looking chrome.  That is an option if you can find one.
[/quote]

I've often suspected this, noticed K-F cars in the junkyard with gleaming plating in my youth. Even in the 70's quality was slipping, my tailight housings (from Brazil) purchased for a 41 Ford pitted within 2 years.

[dpledger]

Cars made during the Korean war were short on nickle for the plating process, which is why they pit the way they do. Current platers do not skip this and if done properly they hold up well. I got the entire assembly  (28 pieces) for my '53 Manhattan done 3-4 years back. Thus far looks as good as when it came back. Done by Badger Plating, Milwaukee (actually St Francis, where you still have a possibility of driving around and not being assaulted.) Cost me $3300 for the lot.Online quotes. EPA was making their lives miserable, so not sure how long any will survive.

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

I don't know who told you nickel was in short supply; GM and Ford people agree that the copper needed for the copper strike layer was the headache.  You started with the pot metal, polished it, then did the copper strike.  This was necessary because even the best polishing left tiny pin holes and helped gas pockets microns under the skin to work their way out after plating (pop like a bubble) and break through the microns thin layers of material.  Copper will "flex" a bit when warmed by the buffing wheel after application.  A skilled buffer can in effect move the copper around to fill in holes and some surface imperfections.  After buffing at the copper level, the nickel and chrome were applied to seal the copper level and provide the hexavalent (shiny) chrome surface that was around the thickness of an eggshell.  Copper was needed for electrical wiring (and some planes sure had a lot of wiring) & car companies were forced to skip the copper step and do what they could with what they could get to work out the whole thing.  The chrome was not as good and tended to peel or pock earlier than otherwise if the copper level was there. 

Remember that pot metal (a zinc/aluminum based alloy) is formed in die casting with lots of sub-surface cavities due to the inability of the process (especially on larger parts) to completely fill the die through & through.  Exposure to temperature variations over time cause the pot metal to expand and contract just enough to let the cavities work their way to the surface.  The chrome plating layers are not sufficient to keep the gas pockets from breaking through.  This is what creates the pock marks at the surface.  Putting on more layers or thickening the layers will only make the surface bumps more pronounced, like painting a car with a number of coats of paint without sanding down the rough areas of the surface.

[Corsairdeluxe]

Not only was nickel in short supply, the government enforced strict rationing. OEM plating on Henry Js was pathetic!

SHORTAGES IN NICKEL SUPPLY
1. Nickel Supply in 1946-71. A primary
nickel shortage was experienced in the United
States from 1950 to 1957. This shortage was the
result of rationing by Canadian producers, from
which the United States imports about two-thirds
of its nickel. This rationing caused U.S. steel producers
(nickel is used in the production of stainless
steel) to revert to the production of low-nickel
steels. The Government continued to buy metal for
defense stockpiles and placed nickel under allocation
from August 15, 1951, to November 1953. The
nickel shortage was less severe in 1955 due to the
diversion of nickel, scheduled to be stockpiled, to
the consumer sector.
In 1958, supply .exceeded demand and nickel
producers reduced operating capacity. As a result,
the Government terminated all contracts for nickel
delivery, and DOD lifted all restrictions on the use

[kaiserfrazerlibrary]

Shortages in Nickel were typically made up by purchases on the "spot" commodity markets.  This was a bit more expensive than the contract price negotiated with direct sources (mine to deliver X tons a month deals).  The extra cost was factored into the cost of the product as sold.  The problem during the Korean War was that the demand spiked & the government made defense material the priority. 

Nickel has always been an optional level of hex chroming; copper for auto use was a different story.  I was in the business for a number of years (Quality Manager, Kentucky Decorative Metals aka Ken-Dec, 2000-2006) and I did some research on the subject including talking to the head chemist at our facility to find out what was different between Korean War era "wartime chrome" and regular plating processes.  That's where I got the info on copper from.

[j762538]

Ogden chrome has free shipping.