gerber chrome handles peeling

U

ulua

Joined
Mar 15, 2006
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the chrome is peeling off the handles of my old set of gerber kitchen cutlery. gerber, at one time, would replate them for you, but no longer.
does any one know who is re- chroming the handles? costs??
has anyone had an experience using powder coating??? powder coating
heats the blade and handle to around 325 degrees, for 20 min. will 325 hurt the blade?
i'd rather have ugly handles than mess with the super edge retention of this great steel. just a few timely strokes on a sharpmaker, brings them right back to ultra-sharp.

the few platers i've contacted had issues with the base material of the handle being aluminum and they only wanted my bike parts.

help!!!

ulua
 
hmm, I'd suggest just wire brushing off the plating and leaving it alone. It seems liek you intent is to spend more money fixing them then they are worth.
 
thanks for the input. i was under the impression that these knives,made from the 40's thru 70's are made with "steel that cuts steel". and they had no peeling issues till citrus oil was included in dishwashing detergent.
my experience with them has been excellant...thin, quick, stay sharp as good or better than henkle, wusthof, mac. thet taught me that a quick, light touch-up on the edge is better than long re-sharpening. the filet knife is flexable and you can run into bone with no ill effects.
as to what they are worth to repair? i've no idea. seems powdeer coating is less expensive than re-chrome.
thanks, ulua
 
That heat would not harm the steel. Other than that you can perhaps put wod handles on it but don't use the dishwasher.
 
There are several brands of gun coatings that may work. They are heat-cured paints (Ceramicoat is one). I believe they are available from www.brownells.com.
I can nickel plate your handles, but the expense would probably not be worth it, as I would have to remove the remainder of the chrome first.
Bill
 
thanks for the input. i didn't find ceramicoat but brownells was interesting.
how do you remove the old chrome and still maintain the polished surface?
sandblast? what medium? how would you treat (smooth)the pitted surfaces where it has peeled and oxidized the aluminum handle base? would nickel wear better than chrome?
gerber says they used a repair process called armor hide. anyone know what or where to find it?
thanks again
ulua
 
I have never removed chrome from aluminum, but I suspect it must be done mechanically. If you are going to paint the handles, I wouldn't worry about removing the chrome.
Nickel is not as hard as chrome.
Armorhide was an applied coating (think paint) with grit in it.
Bill
 
Sound cheaper to buy new knives, and chrome the bike. LOL
Just don't tell the wife about the bike,
 
you are correct sir...10 yrs. ago, when the handles started peeling, i sent
2 handles (knives) into gerber and they were returned w/ armorhide on the
handles. the handles are on a special occasion carving set, so aren't used
daily, but they still look nice. when these knives got bad, gerber was no longer doing any repairs. should i start a new thread the search for armorhide? gerber says it dosen't know.
brownells had a grit in it paint but it didn't sound too durable.
thanks for your time and help!
ulua
 
What about trying that Plasti-dip stuff that is used for coating tool handles? It comes in a variety of colors now.
 
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