The A-B-C’s of polishing and plating in a condensed form.

First, the age and nationality of your restoration bike determines what type of plating it should receive. In the twenties and thirties, it was common-place to see motorcycles from England built with blackened nuts, bolts and washers. This finish is easily done by the amateur restorer with home kits.

The black finish doesn’t stand out and you lose some flash, but its correct and can be touched up. It’s not expensive and says something good about a restoration that was thoughtfully done. In addition, some fasteners were simply painted black once in place. Probably not the best today because once you hit it with a wrench, there goes some of the paint. Lastly, black chrome is not a substitute due to its shine and certainly to its cost and mostly due to the fact that its just way wrong.

NICKEL

As a plating, nickel is only appropriate for bikes somewhere prior to the early thirties. For lack of a better date, lets say 1930. So, some twenties bikes will have a few nickel plated pieces, but probably not the fasteners. Nickel is chrome without the protective finish and gives a warmer, soft gold tone compared to chromium plating. It can usually be done by a chrome shop and is not more expensive than chrome. The practical difference is that with time, nickel will oxidize a bit so that infrequent polish by a mild polish will bring it back to full luster. Don’t use chromium plating on a bike originally built with nickel. It might be possible to substitute a stainless bit if absolutely necessary as it tends to have a warm color not unlike nickel.

Platers

Never disclose to anyone who your plater is unless he’s a bad one. A great plater will be inundated with work from tractor restorers before you know it and you’ve lost the great source. Try to have two platers you trust.Platers are artists and they enjoy a “thank you” from you when they’ve done superb work. A short note or saying so when you pick your bits up will go a long way especially when you need a rush job. I write on the pieces what parts I want polished and what I don’t. They can do some fantastic combinations this way.

Straight Plates

Straight plate is chroming a part without first polishing it. This can keep your restoration from becoming too glitzy. Plus, I like to keep machine marks and the like intact. A single part might call for an area of polished and another unpolished are and maybe threads taped off entirely to prevent buildup. Mark the part with a marker and then keep all similarly instructed parts in the same bag or box.

Prepping the Parts

Platers should not be expected to “dress” your parts. That is, the flats on a hex-bolt may need some work with a file to take off damage caused by a slipped wrench. You do that. Use a file, not a sander or grinder. Tops of straight slotted screws can be filed down to eliminate such damage. This kind of detail attention will pay off when you put your project back together. Clean the parts. Threads on bolts and screws can be cleaned with a wire wheel or media blast. Even a wire brush will clean threads before plating so you get back a super piece.

Instructions

Tell the plater if you want the lettering, knurling, or whatever left intact or mildly polished before plating. Always leave original letters and numbers intact during replating. Now, if you are using a later repro item, go ahead and polish off that info if you like.