Re-Plated

[Maximumsmoke]

Nickel plated this old razor handle. I wish I had saved a photo of it before I re-plated it. It was down to brass and almost black when I bought it. Very discouraging, but it had a really nice heft and balance, and I'm a bit of a nut about making use of old things made of good material. I went on YouTube and searched nickel plating. You can do it with most stuff you have in your kitchen. I polished it lightly -- down to a uniform brass, then copper plated it (they said I should for best results with the nickel plating -- what do I know; I'm an amateur -- first timer) and then nickel plated over that. Easy. Electroplating power was a "D"-cell for one and a re-purposed little 6 or 12 volt transformer for the next operation, if I recall correctly. I did have to obtain a little plate of 99+% nickel - eBay. Wish the head of this razor would have come out as well as the handle, but it was some sort of pot metal, probably zinc, and it really never took the plating uniformly. The original head is in the image below, but it was ugly and turned out super aggressive in blade gap -- it was some wierd shape, too -- not quite the same blade location features we are used to with today's blades. I discarded that head, re-drilled and tapped the handle for 10-32 and put on a nice Pakistani/Indian head. It's one of my favorites. You can do it too!

 

[Saxonbowman]

Nickel plated this old razor handle. I wish I had saved a photo of it before I re-plated it. It was down to brass and almost black when I bought it. Very discouraging, but it had a really nice heft and balance, and I'm a bit of a nut about making use of old things made of good material. I went on YouTube and searched nickel plating. You can do it with most stuff you have in your kitchen. I polished it lightly -- down to a uniform brass, then copper plated it (they said I should for best results with the nickel plating -- what do I know; I'm an amateur -- first timer) and then nickel plated over that. Easy. Electroplating power was a "D"-cell for one and a re-purposed little 6 or 12 volt transformer for the next operation, if I recall correctly. I did have to obtain a little plate of 99+% nickel - eBay. Wish the head of this razor would have come out as well as the handle, but it was some sort of pot metal, probably zinc, and it really never took the plating uniformly. The original head is in the image below, but it was ugly and turned out super aggressive in blade gap -- it was some wierd shape, too -- not quite the same blade location features we are used to with today's blades. I discarded that head, re-drilled and tapped the handle for 10-32 and put on a nice Pakistani/Indian head. It's one of my favorites. You can do it too!View attachment 1547043

Nice job on that handle! I never thought that nickel plating was something you could do at home.

 

[aussietanker]

Awesome job. Well done!