Removing Chrome Plating
 

Hey guys, I have a luger that's been chromed at some point. I have been reading about stripping the chrome off it and restoring to its original base.

Has anyone done this successfully? I found out that brownells has a solution that you hook to a deep cycle battery:

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=2...R-STRIP-trade-

I have not personally done it to a handgun, but to other objects many years ago. If I were you, I would find a QUALITY chrome shop and work with them to reverse the process that THEY do and remove not only the chrome, but also the copper plate below the chrome. They know more about the correct process that any product from Brownells. If it were my Luger, I would want it done correctly so that no/minimal damage is done to the steel of the Luger.

Roger that, you want to leave this to the pro's , i have seen some really bad removal jobs and it will ruin the gun. Done right and refinished you won't be able to tel it was ever nickled or chromed

Normally i say leave chrome and nickle guns alone as that is part of their history, however, I removed the nickle from a rare 1936 police luger (friend sold it for me later),
as I believed that a rare gun like this should be returned to its originality.

So, with cost involved, etc, is it worth it to restore it, as the finish under the chrome or nickle won't be there.

Ed

I de-plated a $150 P38 as a test for chrome restoration on my MGA.

I would not recommend trying it on a chromed Luger. You could probably get away with it on a nickeled gun since the plating isn't as thick or resilient.

I used an acid bath and low voltage DC. The chrome falls away and the trick is to pull it out when you get down to the copper. Then you bead blast it to steel. The problem is, the plating is rarely an even thickness, so you may get down to the base steel in some areas and still have chrome in other spots. The resulting steel surface will be quite rough. I lost most markings on the P38 slide.

After I was finished, the gun looked rough, but presentable. I sold it back to the previous owner for what I had in it; $225. He sold it to a dealer for not much more than that. I saw it the next month on the dealer's table for $550.

There's a $900 plated Luger on GB right now. Unless yours is significant, I'd leave it alone and sell it. Use the money to buy a Luger that's not plated and probably break even.

I took a chromed Luger apart and carried the pieces to a plating shop. They specialize in replating door hardware, etc. I put the frame and large pieces in one bag, the next largest pieces in another bag, the smallest pieces in a separate bag, total of four bags of parts. The mag release spring had not been plated, nor the sear spring, ejector and hold-open spring, so I kept them out.
I very adamantly insisted that the shop would NOT use any abrasives or buffing, nor polishing of the parts. For 50 dollars they electro-stripped the chrome completely off, and VOILA' when I received the parts back, they were perfect, the best looking metal I had ever seen from a gun. It looked like the metal was new, never had any finish at all, and no buffing or grinding had been done even for the chrome plating job.
I was very impressed with the process, 'seems it just removed the chrome and nickel, but left the steel entirely intact and undisturbed.

images?

Sorry no pictures because I bought the chromed Luger cheap at a gunshow, took it to the platers to be stripped on the Monday, then the next gunshow weekend, I sold it for about five hundred more than I paid, first dealer that saw it wanted it, and I underpriced it at that. 'Just lucky that it had been plated without any prior buffing, and was so square, straight and level. Most plated Lugers have already had their surfaces messed with. But if I ever do get another deal on a plated Luger, that is the first thing I'd do, have it stripped to the metal with no abrasives.

I had a similar experience to Alx-- got a deal on a subgun that had been plated. Sent it to Paul Krough with a request to strip the plating and replicate the standard wartime finish.

The piece came back looking brand new, with the added benefit of the original markings now deeper without the plating filling them--

+1 on that, about the stamped markings .... they were deeper much better defined without the plating, on that Luger.

I acquired a really nice Remington Rand 1911 in a trade which had been chromed. I decided the old war horse deserved to be returned to it's prior glory. I took it apart and took the chrome parts to a chrome plating shop and had them remove the chrome. They charge me 35 dollars. I then sent it to Tim Shufflin Parkerizing in Jeromy, Michigan. Tim parks the M1 Garands I build. Any way the Remington turned out great. Here is a picture and by the way if I didn't tell you I don't think you'd be able to tell it had ever been chromed.
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1.../RRcloseup.jpg
Bill

Outstanding job on restoring the rand. Just warms my heart to see one brought back to mil spec.

Thank you. My total cost for changing this piece of history from a "pimp pistol" back to a historical artifact was $135.00. I traded the faux ivory grips for the correct grips. After I sold off or traded the items which came with the Remington I have about $500.00 total in the pistol. One of my better deals for a change.
Bill