Home › Forum › Ask A Member › Hard Chrome vs Chrome › Re: Hard Chrome vs Chrome
I had some motorcycle parts re-chromed and was able to hang around and watch the process. First the old plating is removed, and the part is polished. The polishing is the hard part because every little speck of a defect will show in the finished job. Then the part is copper plated, then nickle plated. If any defects show up (and they will), it is back to the polishing bench. When the nickle plating looks good, it goes into the chrome plating tank–only for a surprisingly short time. I conclude the chrome must be extremely thin.
The guy that did the job died of cancer, caused by his hazardous occupation. So did the other guy that previously did plating for me. If you wonder why it is hard to find chrome platers, there ya go…