chrome plating

[Grey Doffin]

This listing on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/Old-Samurai-short-sword-vintage_W0QQitemZ110056230141QQihZ001QQcategoryZ95132QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem is of a sword that's been chromed. Do any of you know if it's true that the chroming did no damage and that it can be easily removed, or has the blade been damaged? Grey

[Bungo]

what a coincidence, I have a tanto size tsuba looks very very similar to the one in the auction.

Forgot the term of that, but the cloud is supposedly made with mercury based amalgam with some other metal.

 

milt THE ronin

[Brian]

He chromed the blade. It comes off as easy as it goes on.

 

Hmm..he makes it seem so easy. It is really not that easy at all. Usually the base metal is sanded and/or polished, and then there is a flash plating (usually copper) done underneath to assist the chrome with bonding.

There is usually a way to remove the chrome via reverse electrolysis, and ammonia etc, but I think the blade is going to look a bit rough after that, and would need a proper polish.

 

I found this on an old list..just as a warning:

I once found a koto blade which

had been chromed, took it to a chrome plating company who assured me they could get it off. When I picked up the next day, they had placed electrode clips at each end, and left what looked like small weld scars... which were not bad, but did damage the sword

 

Brian

[Stephen]

I had a friend who once had his sword dipped and it came out fine.....EXCEPT one thing do not dip it all the way in, it removes the patina on the tang.....and esp on Tsuba he had with the sword....if your going to go the with the removal be sure to have him dip with the tang out of the liquid. One could see the hamon and faint hada...i think he did alot of uchikoing and it turned out like a old blade out of polish, except of the bright nakago which stuck out like sore thumb. I heard years later that it was repatinaed and came out with a ok rank.

[pcfarrar]

I once had a chromed katana in gunto mounts. Even the nakago was chromed. It was nicely signed I forget the smith. When the chrome came off underneath was a stainless steel blade. :|

 

A few of the swords I've seen that have been chromed and had it removed have suffered badly for it. I don't think that Wakizashi on ebay is worth the expense of having the chrome removed.

[Ed Harbulak]

As someone who has spent his working years in plating research I can assure you that the chrome can be removed. However, expect the blade to require polishing and, as mentioned, if the tang has also been plated and the patina lost, or worse, then there could be a serious problem. In addition to the chromium, which typically is on the order of only 15 millionths of an inch thick and easily and quickly removed with a dip in hydrochloric acid, expect to find up to one or two thousanths of an inch of nickel plate and possibly copper plating under the nickel. They can all be removed, but require professional equipment. In addition, the relatively soft nickel and copper can be polished off and since the blade will probably need to be polished in any case, the polisher should not have a difficult time cutting through the nickel and copper which are much softer than the steel in the blade itself. The tang may be the most troublesome problem if it too has been plated. Unless the blade is either very valuable and worth saving, or extremely cheap and no great loss if things go wrong, then yes, plating can be removed without much difficulty, but expect the blade to require a professional polish or at least have a window opened to see just what is under the plating.

Ed Harbulak

[Bungo]

what a coincidence, I have a tanto size tsuba looks very very similar to the one in the auction.

Forgot the term of that, but the cloud is supposedly made with mercury based amalgam with some other metal.

 

milt THE ronin

 

http://www.esnips.com/web/tsuba?docsPage=2#files

[Guest louisskebo]

I don't think the plating process gets hot enough to damage the temper. It could probably just be polished off, I wouldnt use any acids to remove the palting though - just polish. A window could be opened to tell for sure.

 

regards,