Hi all! Does anyone here care to share some tips on buffing vintage (nickel plated) steel handcuffs after they have been cleaned? Do you use a buffing compound and/or a bench grinder with a buffing wheel? Also, can you clean them in the same way that you clean modern cuffs? (BFW and the rest of the gang has already been most helpful in this area, thanks guys!)Any further help will be appreciated. Thanks!
Cheers, Mike
Thanks very much for the compliment. I'm really having a great time here, getting to bore folks to death with all the junk I picked up over the years.
If you want something plated, look in the phone directory and find a place that refinishes car bumpers (don't call a gunsmith; they farm out plating work to the car bumper guys, so you wind up paying the gunsmith his markup percentage).
HOWEVER, I'm assuming you've got some vintage cuffs, so you need to consider how that plating got on there to start with.
If you want to know all the details about how plating was originally done on in the old days, try to find a copy of Henley's Formulas For Home And Workshop. It was originally published in 1907 and revised in 1927. However, it was republished (as a curiosity item) in 1979 by Crown Publishers, Inc. Its got a huge section on how plating was done in the old days. Back then, plating was done by chemical means, and the chemicals they used were vicious (like potassium cyanide). Essentially, they were trying to "glue" the plated finish to the underlying metal through chemical reactions, so the processes were pretty severe. Today, the only folks who do this stuff are people who are serious about restoring/replicating (faking?) antique items. If you can find someone who does this, it will be horribly expensive.
In contrast to the modern method of electroplating (more in a moment), the old plated finishes were downright lousy in that they didn't wear worth shucks. For items like handcuffs and handguns, they used alloys of nickel (which, by itself, is a soft metal). The old alloys were pretty sorry by modern standards and rubbed off because of their softness. They also flaked off because the chemical "gluing" reactions didn't hold up under stress. But those old finishes were beautiful, and when you see a "mint" whatever with one, it will dazzle you.
Using those old chemical methods, it is possible to "touch up" a damaged area, but I don't recommend it. I did do it once on an antique Remington hangun. And the results were pretty good. I also made myself sick and nearly killed the dog (Buster was down on the floor of the garage where all the chemical fumes, being heavier than air, had sunk).
Today, plating is all done with electricity. Basically, you attach an electrode (positive charge, usually) to the item, immerse it in a liquid bath containing the plating metal of choice in solution, then zap a negative electrical charge into the liquid. The electricity gets the different metals all excited at the molecular level and they bond together. Envision it as metallic sexual intercourse at the atomic level.
To replate an item using the electrical method, you first have to strip off all remnants of the old finish (either with acids or by grinding it off) such that you get to perfectly clean, uncontaminated, base metal. And, in so doing, you will lose all original surface details, such as manufacturer's stamps. Like a good paint job on your house or car, the actual plating process is pretty simple (if you have all the equipment); it's the preparation of the item that's costly.
If you've got an item with manufacturer's stamps, you will destroy its value if you replate it electrically because those stamps will be severely damaged if not obliterated, for two reasons. Those stamps were applied after the item was originally plated, and hence a portion of them is in the plating itself; strip off the plating and there goes part of the stamping. Second, when you replate the item, the new plating will fill up those areas, such that the stamps are no longer crisp and distinct, if visible at all.
So, the item looks cruddy. You don't want to destroy its value by grinding down the original surface and putting a new electroplating job on it. You also are not stupid enough to endanger your health or the life of the family pet. So what do you do?
Pop down to the hardware or paint store and pick up a tube of Rub 'n Buff. It's a wax based stuff, in a variety of colors, that is essentially makeup for metal. It's not permanent, and after it dries, is reasonably durable but it will rub off such that you don't affect the value of the item. For display purposes, it works pretty well. It won't match the surrounding, original finish exactly, but with a little artistic touch, feathering the area in, then coating the whole item with clear fingernail polish, it's not a bad solution.
