Rechroming wrenches
- Thread starter F124C
- Start date
Duth62
Banned
Generally speaking the work of custom plating shops will be far superior to the OEM work.
Production is production and the quality requirements for most tools were-are minimal until you get into the high end mirror items( Truck brands-$ Industrial brands etc.)
When you refer to "older" often a simple strip, light wire wheeling and a re-plate would suffice for a Challenger, Blackhawk,Plomb or old Craftsman stuff..
Like firearm work, getting the exact tone and "depth" might be a bit hard to imitate.
This is where the hotrod guys(as opposed to bumper re-platers) come into play.
For plain old wrenches a simple strip and re-dip will make them look decent and hold up for a long time.
To restore a piece to the point where a ********* collector wouldn't notice is another animal all together. Do-able but $$$ and the right guy-shop.Likely not worth the cash it might take.
Not surprisingly the Taiwanese full understand the "value" of a killer chrome job and use it often. The Europeans don't much give a damn because their functionality is legendary. It's plated. It's protected. Now go beat the hell out of it for 50 years.No problem.
Pretty basic one first. Strip and replate. Easy.
Not so much here..To keep the sharp corners and detailed lettering etc takes a guy with skill. Billy Bumper aint your man but a Chopper guy could do it.
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Production is production and the quality requirements for most tools were-are minimal until you get into the high end mirror items( Truck brands-$ Industrial brands etc.)
When you refer to "older" often a simple strip, light wire wheeling and a re-plate would suffice for a Challenger, Blackhawk,Plomb or old Craftsman stuff..
Like firearm work, getting the exact tone and "depth" might be a bit hard to imitate.
This is where the hotrod guys(as opposed to bumper re-platers) come into play.
For plain old wrenches a simple strip and re-dip will make them look decent and hold up for a long time.
To restore a piece to the point where a ********* collector wouldn't notice is another animal all together. Do-able but $$$ and the right guy-shop.Likely not worth the cash it might take.
Not surprisingly the Taiwanese full understand the "value" of a killer chrome job and use it often. The Europeans don't much give a damn because their functionality is legendary. It's plated. It's protected. Now go beat the hell out of it for 50 years.No problem.
Pretty basic one first. Strip and replate. Easy.
Not so much here..To keep the sharp corners and detailed lettering etc takes a guy with skill. Billy Bumper aint your man but a Chopper guy could do it.
Last edited:
Duth62
Banned
Here's a good example. A little tig brazing in the knicks, some hard wheel work , followed by up to 600 on a loose wheel and it could look as good as the speeder. For $150 or so, I guess
As to custom re chroming being superior to production I can speak for what went on at New Britain in the early 70s. If there were "holidays" in the chrome in the pebble finish (unpolished) area of a wrench it was touched up with aluminum paint. On more than one occasion the plating supervisor would do some unannounced mucking about with the baths and there would be a rash of plating curling up and falling off or other ills quickly corrected before management realized what had happened.
Model A Fan
Well-known member
Why would the plating manager do something with the baths that would potentially ruin the end product?
rsanter
Well-known member
Yes we have seen a few examples of people replacing tools, in some cases there have been pictures posted of old snap on tools that were plated as they were never plated in the first place back then. The question is why do you want to replate it. That will determine if you should or how much effort you should take in it
Bob
Bob