Nickel plating

Atlas Knife Company

Atlas Knife Company

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Feb 16, 2010
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I'm getting ready to nickel plate one of my forges. I've got 8 oz. of nickel ingots on their way, and building a 6VDC transformer should be easy. Anyone have any suggestions, tips, tricks, etc. to make life easier?

Surely it can't be this easy? Nickel plating looks to be really easy, but the plating companies want to charge $46 each to plate a forge where as hot-dip galvanizing is only $7 each. What's the deal?
 
I do a little nickel plating on gun parts, etc. I don't think nickel plating is a good finish for a forge. It may not hold up well or it might discolor with the heat.
Galvanizing is definitely not something you would want to use.
My suggestion is high-heat paint.
In THEORY nickel plating is easy. Not so much in practice, though. The base metal has to be clean and bright. It doesn't have to be polished. If you want a shiny finish, you do have to polish, though. Plating is only as shiny as the underlying metal finish.
 
Hmmm, thanks for the info Bill. I saw some posts by you on some 10 year old threads and was hoping you'd relay what you've learned since then. Galvanizing is really cheap, and not nearly dangerous as people fear. The biggest fear about zinc is in gas form and the only hot spot on the forge wouldn't get anywhere near hot enough to vaporize zinc, but it will melt it off. Still, the fear of Zinc scares enough people off that it's not an option.

I've been using high temp 2000° paint. It's easy to apply, but is very messy until the first time you use the forge and it bakes on. I've no room to get an oven big enough to bake multiple forges, so I'm trying to find something better.

One of the pieces of my burners is nickel plated, and I would be happy with that as a finish. I'll just have to try plating one and see what happens. Oh, and clean it really well.
 
You will need a big tank, and a power supply with adequate amperage. Nickel doesn't plate well into holes-but that may not be a concern. You can clean by soaking in hydrochloric acid for 30 seconds or so. Electro cleaning by reverse plating (in a separate tank) works well, too.
Good luck. Plating is a royal PITA.
Have you tried stove black?
 
I'm using Rustoleum engine block enamel. I've tried the stove version and it didn't hold up to the heat as well. Unfortunately, both need to be baked on. Baking individually isn't difficult, it happens as soon as the forge heats up the first time. However, trying to bake several at one is a bit more difficult.

As for cleaning, I've been pickling in vinegar and having good success. I'll give a blast of reverse plating and see if that helps.
 
Have you tried "header paint"? This is a special high temperature paint used to paint exhaust headers on race cars. It does hold up pretty good. It should hold on a forge since they never get "red hot" while header pipes sure do get red hot in spots, and those places even this header paint will burn.

KenH.
 
Atlas Knife Company said:
I'm getting ready to nickel plate one of my forges. I've got 8 oz. of nickel ingots on their way, and building a 6VDC transformer should be easy. Anyone have any suggestions, tips, tricks, etc. to make life easier?

Surely it can't be this easy? Nickel plating looks to be really easy, but the plating companies want to charge $46 each to plate a forge where as hot-dip galvanizing is only $7 each. What's the deal?
Click to expand...

See bold type - you are right. It is far more complex than that.
I doubt it will hold up anyway.
 
This is the paint. However, it's very powdery and messy until baked when the ceramic crystals fuse together.

AU_12oz_HHFltBlk_L.ashx
 
I already made stainless forges. Destroyed two spindles on my drill press trying to cut the port on the side of twenty of them, and that was with a carbide holesaw. Just twisted them so they only go half-way up the spindle shaft. Laser cutting was implemented right after that. But the stainless holds up real nice. One guy in Panama bought one, because of the humidity there, and several along the east coast and deep south.

Besides, the fun is in the challenge of the process. I want to do something different and difficult, not easy.
 
OK, just got a bunch of nickel ingots, they look like pressed ball bearings. How can I join them into a single piece to use for plating? Spot welder?
 
Nickel welds very well indeed, also very handy for joining cast iron to steel. But...Having had metal fume fever from zinc in my careless youth, I'll pass on that what I've read about the effects of nickel fumes has caused me to avoid using nickel and treat it with great respect when I do. It's worth doing some research before firing up the welder
 
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