Re: Replating a vintage National mandolin
Originally Posted by
allenhopkins
I'm a bit sensitive to the environmental damage of plating -- ever tune into one of those Motor Trend Network car shows, and watch what's involved in chrome-plating auto parts? Looks like corrosive fuming hell, and mostly for appearance rather than function. But plating a mandolin body is pretty minor, and restoring/undoing prior lousy work seems worthwhile.
Allen, I worked in a plating plant for awhile in high school. Evenings and a summer.
You're dead right. It was a corrosive fuming hell. No amount of Beat Poetry could offset that and I got out of there.
We did mostly nickel and chrome plating, as at that place one followed the other.
That is some gnarly stuff though.
That plant is closed but likely a superfund site now.
Chrome is more than decorative: super hard metal and obviously high end rust resistance.
And it does look good.
Just think: The ubiquity of reflective surfaces wasn't always as common as it is now.
Mick
Ever tried, ever failed? No matter. Try again, fail again. Fail better.--Samuel Beckett
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