Or nickel


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Posted by David Sherman on Friday, April 25, 2008 at 13:48:23 :

In Reply to: Chrome is better on the older stuff too. NTXT posted by Howard in Newcastle on Friday, April 25, 2008 at 10:02:24 :

The really old plumbing fixtures (pre-1930s) are generally nickel plated rather than chrome. It's a little bit darker finish than chrome, and not quit so shiny, but it holds up well and gives it a nice antique look. With either finish, one thing that really bugs me is when some gorilla has put a pipe wrench on a nice old fixture and tore up the plating, simply because he was too lazy to go get the right wrench. As for chrome-plated plastic or pot metal, they might as well just paint it silver because that's about as good as the "plating" is. Good chrome plating must go over steel or brass, not plastic, zinc, or aluminum, and it must have intermediate layers of copper and nickel for a good bond. The metal must be pickled in the right chemicals before each layer, and polished afterwards in order to get a final coat that is smooth and has good adhesion. This means a lot of toxic chemicals (chrome salts are particularly nasty) and a lot of hand labor on the buffing wheels. Nobody can afford to do that these days. Look at how much it costs to get a "Power Wagon" emblem properly re-chromed and you can see why they don't make plumbing fixtures like they used to.



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