Refinishing a nickle revolver?

July 07, 2020, 02:36 PM

So, for the past while I've been buying abused 870s and "restoring" them. Removing rust, re-bluing that sort of thing.

I now have 6 nice 870s in my gun rack... which is a bit much.

So I'm thinking about trying revolvers.

Along comes a Model 10-7, 2" barrel... reasonable price given that the nickle finish is rusted and beat to heck.

I've done hot and cold bluing, but not nickle or other plating. Remove the nickle and blue it? Is there a way to plate it myself?

I seek your wisdom in this...

July 07, 2020, 02:56 PM

jimmy123x

Send it to Ford's in Florida and have them re-nickel it.

July 07, 2020, 04:19 PM

tanksoldier

quote:
Originally posted by jimmy123x:
Send it to Ford's in Florida and have them re-nickel it.

Maybe for something else, but the goal here is to do the work myself if I can...

July 07, 2020, 04:22 PM

YooperSigs

You might check around locally to see if it can be bead blasted. If the nickle is not too far gone.

July 07, 2020, 05:13 PM

egregore

To DIY duplicate the original nickel plating is going to be a pretty tall order. Since nickel doesn't rust, the rust you're seeing is the steel underneath. Removing the remnants of the nickel and the copper plating underneath (it gives the nickel something to adhere to) needs some really nasty chemicals. Then you've got to remove the rust, repolish (and if the pits, if any, are too deep, you may have to leave some of them in) and replate, which requires a great deal of skill, more nasty chemicals and an electrolytic tank. That stuff would cost you so much to buy, you might as well pay a pro. An alternative is to remove the plating and put some other coating on it.

July 07, 2020, 05:14 PM

jimmy123x

quote:
Originally posted by tanksoldier:
quote:
Originally posted by jimmy123x:
Send it to Ford's in Florida and have them re-nickel it.

Maybe for something else, but the goal here is to do the work myself if I can...

You can't re-plate Nickel yourself. Nickel is comprised of 3 different plating metal layers. You could strip the nickel and blue the gun or whatever else, perhaps cerakote it in a satin nickel color might be nice......You could try polishing the nickel if it just has scratches and isn't flaked off. Ammonia does a really good job of causing nickel to flake off (Hoppes #9 has ammonia).

July 07, 2020, 05:20 PM

egregore

A copper solvent should penetrate the voids in the nickel plate, attack the underlying copper and eventually lift the nickel off, kind of like how brake fluid or paint remover removes paint. Then you can put whatever kind of coating you wish on the gun.

July 07, 2020, 05:37 PM

maxwayne

Try some Flitz and an old t-shirt. You might be able to bring a lot of it back.

July 08, 2020, 08:16 AM

Jim Watson

Caswell will sell you electroplating equipment and supplies; Brownells and Caswell will sell you electroless nickel gear. Seems awful expensive for one job.

I would strip the nickel and blue; Brownells and Caswell have stripping solutions.
Alternatives of strip the nickel and Parkerize or blast and Cerakote.

July 08, 2020, 08:24 AM

Blume9mm

That's my thought... strip off the nickel and blue it... I had this done years ago to a S&W 38 and it looked so much better.

I like dull stainless but a shiny handgun or long gun just doesn't do it for me.

July 08, 2020, 09:34 AM

Z06

I bought a private party owned S&W 27-2 3.5" Nickel (shipped 1971) that 'suffered' from the freckling caused by the old Hoppe's #9 cleaner. I sent it back to The S&W Performance Center and had it bright polish re-nickeled for $275. Came out great.

July 08, 2020, 10:00 AM

jhe888

quote:
Originally posted by egregore:
To DIY duplicate the original nickel plating is going to be a pretty tall order. Since nickel doesn't rust, the rust you're seeing is the steel underneath. Removing the remnants of the nickel and the copper plating underneath (it gives the nickel something to adhere to) needs some really nasty chemicals. Then you've got to remove the rust, repolish (and if the pits, if any, are too deep, you may have to leave some of them in) and replate, which requires a great deal of skill, more nasty chemicals and an electrolytic tank. That stuff would cost you so much to buy, you might as well pay a pro. An alternative is to remove the plating and put some other coating on it.

Agreed. Old-fashioned nickel is electroplated over copper which is also electroplated onto the steel. An electroplating set-up would be very hard to build at home, not to mention expensive.

I have no idea how electro-less nickel is done, other than it is a purely chemical process, but it doesn't look the same as electroplated nickel.

July 08, 2020, 10:04 AM

SBrooks

I bought a dura-coat shake-n-spray kit and used it on a P3AT that needed some help and an 870 that had some rust pits/specks. It worked very well and I like the results quite a bit. Seems durable too, but I haven't had it on there for very long yet...

July 08, 2020, 11:39 AM

Pizza Bob

quote:
Originally posted by egregore:Removing the remnants of the nickel and the copper plating underneath (it gives the nickel something to adhere to)

A copper solvent should penetrate the voids in the nickel plate, attack the underlying copper and eventually lift the nickel off

To my knowledge S&W did not / does not use a copper substrate on their nickel plated revolvers.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

July 08, 2020, 11:50 AM

jimmy123x

quote:
Originally posted by Pizza Bob:
quote:
Originally posted by egregore:Removing the remnants of the nickel and the copper plating underneath (it gives the nickel something to adhere to)

A copper solvent should penetrate the voids in the nickel plate, attack the underlying copper and eventually lift the nickel off

To my knowledge S&W did not / does not use a copper substrate on their nickel plated revolvers.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

You may be right. I have a nickel plated model 19 that the nickel peeled off in a dime sized section of the cylinder several years back (from leaving it wet with Hoppes #9), there is another metal there, it is a light dull silver in color (not copper colored), is there copper underneath that or steel, IDK.

July 10, 2020, 10:32 PM

tanksoldier

Thanks to everyone for their advice.

Home electrolysis kits seem pretty well represented on YouTube.

Removing rust, and doing copper, zinc and nickel plating.

I think I’m going to buy something inexpensive to start and have a go.