Chrome Paint . . .

[Teken]

Long story short a buddy sparked a ratchet off the side of a battery terminal so it has a nice burnt mark on the handle.

He is pretty upset that a few seconds of in attention has damaged his brand new Armstrong 3/8" drive ratchet which I gave to him for his birthday.

He asked me to post this Q to see if anyone has had any luck with any brand of paint that even comes close to looking like the chrome that you would see on any given tool.

I personally have never seen any paint even come close to matching or having the same luster as natural chromed tools that come from the factory.

So, who knows of a brand that is as close as you can get to looking like the real deal?

 

[Bull]

My experience with chrome paint is that it looks a heck of a lot like silver paint.

The ratchet has not bee damaged. It has been tattooed with the honorable mark of labor. Tell him to be proud of the spot.

 

[Teken]

Ya, that didn't go over too well there Bull . . . I just gave the thing to him last week on Thursday, and I guess he was afraid to tell me that it got damaged already!

The silly man has almost every Snap-On tool I have seen in a catalog. So what do you buy a man who has everything? You buy him another good main line tool like Armstrong!

He said in 32 years he has never sparked a ratchet off a battery terminal, and only after receiving said ratchet it happens!

I dunno . . . I believe you're right, it might be more silver, than chrome . . . I don't think its worth the time to have the ratchet re chromed.

 

[Bull]

Well, perhaps if Armstrong has a particularly good warranty dept, they will honor a claim for this even though it was a user error?

I dunno!

 

[BetterDays]

It's a reminder of a great story...

One that involves someone that I presume is a great friend (you).

"So, Teken gives me this ratchet. A week later, "ZAP". ** years in the business, no problems. 1 week after this ratchet, I do this. Not sure if it's me, the ratchet hating that it's not a SNAP ON, or Teken trying to get my tools!"

 

[crewchief888]

The ratchet has not bee damaged. It has been tattooed with the honorable mark of labor. Tell him to be proud of the spot.

the 1st dent, ding, scratch, or hammer mark is always the worst

i found some chrome paint that is a little closer to chrome than silver paint.

 

[Teken]

the 1st dent, ding, scratch, or hammer mark is always the worst

i found some chrome paint that is a little closer to chrome than silver paint.

Do you have a name or part number there Sir?

 

[Teken]

It's a reminder of a great story...

One that involves someone that I presume is a great friend (you).

"So, Teken gives me this ratchet. A week later, "ZAP". ** years in the business, no problems. 1 week after this ratchet, I do this. Not sure if it's me, the ratchet hating that it's not a SNAP ON, or Teken trying to get my tools!"

I don't follow what you're trying to say? My friend is a die hard SO user, so what tool could I buy him if he has almost all of it?

In my mind it was to buy something I like to use, and he has never had any Armstrong tools so I bought him one . . .

And??

 

[BetterDays]

I don't follow what you're trying to say? My friend is a die hard SO user, so what tool could I buy him if he has almost all of it?

In my mind it was to buy something I like to use, and he has never had any Armstrong tools so I bought him one . . .

And??

Trying to make a good story out of it...

You trying to get his tools (electrocute him)
The tool being jealous that it is not a SO (think Rudolph with the red nose) :tard:

If it gets fixed, there is no visual to the story.
Or the remember that this tool is different.

Same reason that I have kept $140 worth of nuts and bolts (I believe that is is eight of each) on my workbench - - A good reminder of several things.


No offense meant - - -

 

[wreckercologist]

eh, that's part of life. I've got two wrenches and a ratchet like that.

I'm not aware of anything that will look like chrome except chrome (not being a wise-*** either).

All I know is I was super pissed when I arked a brand new 15/16" Snap-on wrench while working around the batteries on a Freightshaker. I feel your friends pain.

 

[Teken]

I follow now, none taken just wanted a clarification. He is rather paranoid about certain things whether you call it tradition, good luck bad luck, I can't recall the proper phrase.

Regardless, he is one of those guys when he eats, all the separate foods and I mean nothing is allowed to touch each other or co mingle!

Same with tools, if he is working on something he won't have any 3/8 tools on the same tray as the 1/2 tools. He's a little odd, but he's a good friend!

 

[crewchief888]

Do you have a name or part number there Sir?

ace hardware chrome plate paint

 

[Teken]

If you had two identical ratchets side by side. And painted one of them, on a scale of 1-5, one being poor, 5 being a exact match. How would your rate the appearance?

 

[crewchief888]

If you had two identical ratchets side by side. And painted one of them, on a scale of 1-5, one being poor, 5 being a exact match. How would your rate the appearance?

probably a 2
it worked ok for what i used it for, i had a bathroom vent that had some surface rust on it, i blasted it and shot it with the chrome paint. looks better than silver, but not as good as the original chrome.

 

[dieseldodge01]

I tried to electrocute myself with a small Phillips screwdriver, lets just say the tip is a little melted and there is a nice scar across the screwdriver, good thing for circuit breakers.

 

[bchee]

Even if you found a perfect match I'm not sure how long it would last; unless he doesn't use the ratchet very much.

 

[TheGrooveking]

I remember in autoshop 12 in high school where one guy was changing the starter out on a teacher's car. While he was tightening the postive cable another student connected the battery! It was fireworks show for a little while, but it actually welded the ratchet to the oil pan, all I can say is the teacher was pissed, his new starter, oil pan and battery were toast. We actually ended up cutting the ratchet off below and above the oil pan and somewhere there is a Ford Fairlane with a piece of 1/2" drive SK ratchet forever with it.

TheGrooveking

 

[Mickey O]

I haven't seen a chrome paint that comes close to real chrome. I'd sand and polish, it will come out pretty good. Below is a picture of a wrench the had flaking chrome that I sanded and polished up, pictures not the best but it came out very nice. Do a search for the thread about removing owners marks from tools, the person that started the thread gives a great explanation of how he did it, I think it's about the best solution other than a re-chrome.

 

[LoneGunman]

"chrome" paint will only make it look worse.

 

[Teken]

I haven't seen a chrome paint that comes close to real chrome. I'd sand and polish, it will come out pretty good. Below is a picture of a wrench the had flaking chrome that I sanded and polished up, pictures not the best but it came out very nice. Do a search for the thread about removing owners marks from tools, the person that started the thread gives a great explanation of how he did it, I think it's about the best solution other than a re-chrome.

Mickey,

What are we talking about in terms of coarseness? Like 3000-5000 grit? Also when they dip the tool to be chromed what is the over all thickness of the said chrome?

I don't want to start something and find out that the chrome literally got sanded off like it did to one fellow GJ member who purchased a FUBAR SO ratchet which appears to be retro fitted for some random cause.

 

[Mickey O]

Mickey,

What are we talking about in terms of coarseness? Like 3000-5000 grit? Also when they dip the tool to be chromed what is the over all thickness of the said chrome?

I don't want to start something and find out that the chrome literally got sanded off like it did to one fellow GJ member who purchased a FUBAR SO ratchet which appears to be retro fitted for some random cause.

I'm not sure how thick the chrome is (not very), but when it's flaked, chipped or damaged it's already gone so I try to feather it and put a really smooth polish on it. You can tell the difference if you look closely but it doesn't bother me as much as the damage, flaking or rust. I finish up with 2000 and then polishing compound, what I start with varies on how bad of condition the thing I'm polishing is in. I haven't done it to a lot of tool only ones that I like and plan to keep (too much work). It's hard to tell in the picture but I did that from the rivet on the right all the way to the left as far as you can see in the picture, the glare makes it look like just a part of it stands out, but overall it looks fine, much better than it did.

 

[c_mccann]

Keep it as-is- it is a story. I have a Cman screwdriver that was lost in a diesel tank for years and it was recovered years later with a magnet. The handle is permanently stained diesel colored. I would not trade that screwdriver for the world.

 

[arkangel06]

G5 then S

 

[Mickey O]

Keep it as-is- it is a story. I have a Cman screwdriver that was lost in a diesel tank for years and it was recovered years later with a magnet. The handle is permanently stained diesel colored. I would not trade that screwdriver for the world.

Yeah, nothing better than having a constant reminder of your screw-up. Who you kidding, you'd give that screwdriver up in a heartbeat for $5 and a pound of delicious bacon, I would (even just for the bacon, even half the bacon, even two strips of the bacon).

I think the screw-up itself is enough to prevent you from doing it in the future, don't need to see a damaged tool everyday. I fix or get rid of my damaged tools.

 

[Teken]

G5 then S

is this a type of paint that is a close match?

 

[arkangel06]

is this a type of paint that is a close match?

No just the best metal polish in the world

Polish is the way to go with this one

Heres a pic of 2 ratchets one I polished with nuvite the other I have not, The polished one was in identical condition if not worse then the dull one.

 

[Teken]

Well, it looks like the Chrome Gods have taken notice and have seen my friends pains! I just got off the phone with a local plater and he said he will do a 3 stage chrome job for $10.00

So I will be dropping off three ratchets off next month to get them back in order, two for me and one for him!

Love the Yellow Pages!

 

[arkangel06]

Well, it looks like the Chrome Gods have taken notice and have seen my friends pains! I just got off the phone with a local plater and he said he will do a 3 stage chrome job for $10.00

So I will be dropping off three ratchets off next month to get them back in order, two for me and one for him!

Love the Yellow Pages!

Woah thats pretty epic never knew there was places like that or I would have had my 1953 SO ratchet re plated.

 

[Evogun]

http://www.alsacorp.com/killercans.htm

Here you go only paint that looks like chrome. Not Cheap!

 

[Teken]

The reason I am going this route is that some of the ratchets have the usual head wear from being used in close quarters, and the other is simply just old and abused from normal usage!

Mechanically both of mine are 100%, but they look like they have been in a war zone! What the hey, for $10.00 a pop I am going to get all three done next month and put up a thread about the whole process.

Many thanks to all regarding the chrome paint Q. I don't think the paint would have taken care of the gouge in the ratchet from the battery spark anyways.

 

[Teken]

http://www.alsacorp.com/killercans.htm

Here you go only paint that looks like chrome. Not Cheap!

$115.00 USD for cans of paint! Yeah, I think I will get it done for real and it will last much much longer!

Thanks for the link though, it might be useful later on . . .