Fixing plating on Record lever cap

[RichardL]

Hi
I have just bought an old Record SS #4. Its in pretty good nick apart from the chrome (or is it nickle?, it should be about 1945-1947 vintage as it has the patent stamp and the nice fully ground frog) plating flaking off the lever cap (already cut myself on it). What do people normally do about this sort of thing:
1 leave it, use it and don't be such a tool snob, its only an old record,
2 re-plate it at some cost,
3 remove the rest of the plating and buff the casting (how do you remove it?)
4 search for a better lever cap (it looks ok otherwise)
5 something else

Thanks

Richard

[Vann]

3, with the intention of moving up to 2 some day .

So far, I've only gotten around to scraping or buffing off the flakey chrome (buffing with a wire wheel), then oiling the exposed cast iron. I believe the local platers have a minimum charge, so I'm intending to go around one day with several kilograms of lever-caps to be sure I get my moneys worth.

I once asked the late David Leach (of recordhandplanes.com) whether the lever has to be disassembled, but he said he got his re-plated without disassembly.

Cheers, Vann.

[RichardL]

3, with the intention of moving up to 2 some day .

So far, I've only gotten around to scraping or buffing off the flakey chrome (buffing with a wire wheel), then oiling the exposed cast iron. I believe the local platers have a minimum charge, so I'm intending to go around one day with several kilograms of lever-caps to be sure I get my moneys worth.

I once asked the late David Leach (of recordhandplanes.com) whether the lever has to be disassembled, but he said he got his re-plated without disassembly.

Cheers, Vann.

Hi Vann!

I think my "War finish" Record wasn't plated at all, and I wondered if I could remove all of the chrome plating on my recently acquired one, assuming that is what it is. The only way I have seen to remove chrome is by reverse electrolysis but apparently sodium hydroxide reacts with it. Wiki suggests oven cleaner (which is very alkaline), bleach or brake fluid. I wonder if I'll have a lever cap left after trying all of that?

Cheers
Richard

[seanz]

1 leave it, use it and don't be such a tool snob, its only an old record,

#1, definitely #1.


I normally swap "slightly worn" lever-caps out for a better one.

[IanW]

Yes, I've experienced a bit of minor finger trauma from flaking chrome myself Personally I detest the stuff, & prefer plain old, honest, slightly tarnished steel, so it would be off to the wire wheel to remove as much of the flaky bits as possible, if it were mine. On a user, that would be about the extent of any 'repairs' I'd contemplate.....

Cheers,

[mike48]

For some of my old user planes with flakey plating, I have used a clear polyurethane paint to seal it.
Rub off the big flakey bits first.
Cabot's Crystal Clear, (now Cabothane Clear) is good, and is removable later if required.
Quickly "wet wipe" off the item with a clean lint free rag after coating.