Nickel plated WI, next steps?

E

EricC

Member
Some may remember a WI I posted earlier this month, identified by Doug as a Wagner made when they owned Sydney Hollow Ware from 1897 - 1903.

I suspected it looked nickel plated under the gunk, though I can't seem to find any other reference to a nickel plated WI. Wagner started doing nickel plating in 1892 so it's not impossible, I think.

It's now had a total of 3 weeks in a lye bath, in two separate sessions with a scrubdown after each. These paddles were definitely plated. My excitement of finding something so unusual is mostly killed by how badly worn the plating is; I understand plated pieces with wear are less desirable than non-plated pieces.

The original finish on the base is even more of a puzzle. It's even more worn, mostly bare CI now, but there are some spots that look like maybe japanning but others that look like it too was plated. I would expect it'd only be one or the other, though; confusing...

The question is, what should my next steps be for restoration of this worn plated piece? Just season everything? Or are there other preparatory steps I should perform first?

Some pics. The camera doesn't really do it justice, the plating contrasts even more IRL...


Look at the bottom section, you can see the line where the plating ends and is worn away to bare CI down to the lip:


What may be leftover japanning on the base, the glossy part in the center:


But some spots that show a little remaining plating...




Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
 
Eric....I had a Griswold piece that had been painted and I left it in the lye for several weeks and it barely removed some of the paint. For the longest time I thought it was an actual finish put on by Griswold. After several applications of paint remover I finally got it all off and then seasoned it in the normal process. I'm just wondering if your pieces may have been painted with some sort of high temperature paint which is resisting removal? If it's nickel plated I would proceed with the same process of seasoning that you would follow on regular cast iron.
 
In the interest of doing due diligence to be certain what I'm dealing with, I tested an area with paint remover, nothing came off.

Then I got a 1% solution of dimethylglyoxime, which can be used to test for the presence of nickel. It tested positive. This is real, it's nickel plated.

Since it's so worn, I considered stripping off all the rest of the nickel but decided not to. Aside from the expense it would take to do that, I get the impression this is an uncommon piece and I don't want to destroy the example. So I'll just season over everything, lacking other advice.

And then I need to make some handles...
 
Could that glossy black be just pure carbon residue? A stiff wire brush should tell. If I was going to season the whole thing I'd give the e-tank a shot at it first. What to lose?

Hilditch
 
This question may be anathema, but---does anyone ever have something like that re-plated? (She asks, ducking under the table...).
 
(Loud) ONLY IF YOU HAVE A FRIEND IN THE PLATING BUSINESS!

Hilditch

---------- Post added at 03:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:05 AM ----------

That was loud with a smile.

Hilditch
 
EricC said:
In the interest of doing due diligence to be certain what I'm dealing with, I tested an area with paint remover, nothing came off.

Then I got a 1% solution of dimethylglyoxime, which can be used to test for the presence of nickel. It tested positive. This is real, it's nickel plated.

Since it's so worn, I considered stripping off all the rest of the nickel but decided not to. Aside from the expense it would take to do that, I get the impression this is an uncommon piece and I don't want to destroy the example. So I'll just season over everything, lacking other advice.

And then I need to make some handles...
Click to expand...

I like your thinking here Eric. It would be a shame to lose an example of something that may be extremely rare.
 
I agree with Jody, I would leave it as is. I think of it as the CI version of tie dye
and I like the look of it. It's part of the history of that WI and it seems a shame to alter it. I have quite a collection of WI's but not a Nickel plated one.
 
Like that description Bonnie...Maybe we should add that to the CIC data base. Strange but I saw one (WW Sidney) earlier today on eBay (Pat. 1910) that looked to be nickel plated. Sometimes those pics are hard to tell what's what.
 
W. Hilditch said:
Could that glossy black be just pure carbon residue? A stiff wire brush should tell. If I was going to season the whole thing I'd give the e-tank a shot at it first. What to lose?

Hilditch
Click to expand...

It's already been hit up a couple of times with a wire brush (and I don't have an e-tank, only a lye bath) but you bring up a good point - the paddles may be as prepped as I can get them but I need to do more to the base...

DonnaM said:
This question may be anathema, but---does anyone ever have something like that re-plated? (She asks, ducking under the table...).
Click to expand...

I actually do know a couple of guys who can do nickel plating, though I don't know if they're set up for objects of this size (they normally do small objects that need to be plated with a nickel substrate before plating in copper or gold). I also don't know if they could just plate as-is; I'd guess they'd likely need to strip the original nickel first and start from scratch. Either way it'd turn into a re-creation instead of original and that just doesn't appeal to me. I have no choice but to re-create the handles but my goal is to make them as close to the originals as I'm capable.



Thanks everybody for your comments.
 
I actually agree with you, Eric. But I'm someone who likes old bent, rusty type stuff, weathered barn wood, and the like. Some folks are more into restoration to the point of pristine....wasn't sure which one you were. :icon_thumbsup:
 
Here's a question from left field:

Would a diluted solution of nitric acid remove the remaining nickel without "eating" the iron?
 
CJMunnich said:
Here's a question from left field:

Would a diluted solution of nitric acid remove the remaining nickel without "eating" the iron?
Click to expand...

It looks like no, a dilute solution would eat iron. This is a quote from the wiki on nitric acid:

"Although chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), and aluminium (Al) readily dissolve in dilute nitric acid, the concentrated acid forms a metal-oxide layer that protects the bulk of the metal from further oxidation. The formation of this protective layer is called passivation. Typical passivation concentrations range from 20% to 50% by volume (see ASTM A967-05). Metals that are passivated by concentrated nitric acid are iron, cobalt, chromium, nickel, and aluminium."

Then there's this quote from a FAQ on nickel stripping:

"Nickel is metallurgically quite similar to iron, but more corrosion resistant, so it isn't necessarily easy and cheap to remove nickel from iron. The best and most environmentally friendly choice might be to use a proprietary nickel stripper, such as offered by Metalx rather than using a nitric acid based or cyanide based stripper."

I did research the MetalX product mentioned and it looks like good stuff that would do the trick. The problem is cost. It requires no electricity in the solution but the stripping tank must be agitated and operate at a temperature from 120 - 150 degrees F. And, aside from the equipment to meet those requirements, the stripper costs almost $30 per gallon. I roughly estimate jury-rigging a setup (including stripper) to do this WI would run in the $100 - $150 range. Not worth it.
 
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