removing chrome

cwbyengraver · Sep 18, 2008

Hello can someone tell me is there an easy way to remove chrome from a gun or am I going to have to sand and stone through it. It is a s&w break top 32 cal I thought it was nickel so I used brownells nickel remover on it not a dang thang happened now what. all though i did kill a hog with it friday night. so its back strap tonight thanks

joe seeley · Sep 18, 2008

The best way is to send it out to a plater and have them strip it for you ( reverse plating). I have had some luck on small noncritical parts using a sand blaster to break thru the chrome. Beware the steel underneath is softer than the chrome, and the sandblast will quickly start to wash the steel away and leave you with a very uneven surface. You will then still have a lot of polish work to deal with.

Personally unless a customer is willing to pay for the profesional deplating I wouldn't touch the job.

note: you can't see what the metal loks like under the chrome, sometimes there will be a very rough finish or some severe pitting. this brings us back to lots of polish work after the plating is stripped.

Joe

SharpGraver · Sep 18, 2008

DalMar Plating sells a chrome stripping solution that worksreally well. I use it on motorcycle parts.

CJ Allan · Sep 18, 2008

If it's for a customer.
I'd tell him to bring back it to me when "HE" has it stripped, polished, and "ready" to engrave.......

If it's your gun...I'd leave the thing alone and find something else to spend time on.....

Just the way I'd do it.......

Roger Bleile · Sep 18, 2008

I agree with CJ. You want to spend your time engraving. Dealing with stripping chrome or other plating can cost more time than engraving and you get nothing for your efforts. I had the nickle stripped from a Government Model Colt about thirty years ago and by the time I had the surface repolished the job was a net loss. I have not done it since.

RB

Christopher Malouf · Sep 18, 2008

I'm figuring out what "net loss" is very quickly.

If you decide to go forward ... be sure to re-plate the gun with nickel. If you missed even the tiniest spot, it will show up when you blue it.

Every experience of this sort is always a great learning experience. If you approach it as such ... you can turn a financial loss into a knowledge gain.

Chris

Barry Lee Hands · Sep 24, 2008

I have done a lot of stripping and I would be VERY cautious, a SW 32 break open probably has an iron frame, if so, the electode methods will actually eat the frame faster than the plating, and cause brutal pitting, even the "super strip" etc.
You don't want to know how I found this out.
However, on a modern steel gun muriatic will often eat nickel or "chrome" just fine.
If you send it to a pro, be sure they have done one before.

cwbyengraver · Sep 24, 2008

Thanks yall I appreciate the advise I think I will leave this one alone.

removing chrome

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