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Jared Smith
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 Posted: Fri 08 Jul, 2005 7:37 pm Post subject: Gilding and or plating of pommels and guards? |
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Have any manufacturer's offered (would Albion do it at a modest price) silver guilding or nicklel plating as options with pommels and guards?
I have experiemented for about 6 months with cold blueing and found that this slows down corrosion from hand imparted oils. I would like something better so that the sword does not need to be oiled and wiped down every few days after just minor handling of the hilt area.
Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence!
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Nathan Robinson
myArmoury Admin
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| Posted: Fri 08 Jul, 2005 7:41 pm Post subject: Re: Gilding and or plating of pommels and guards? |
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| Jared Smith wrote: | Have any manufacturer's offered (would Albion do it at a modest price) silver guilding or nicklel plating as options with pommels and guards?
I have experiemented for about 6 months with cold blueing and found that this slows down corrosion from hand imparted oils. I would like something better so that the sword does not need to be oiled and wiped down every few days after just minor handling of the hilt area. |
Gilding requires precious metals be suspended in liquid mercury. From there, the piece is heated and the mercury burns off as a gas, leaving the precious metal bonded to the under surface. This is a highly dangerous process, as you might imagine, and is unlikely to be done by a modern maker.
Nickel plating is highly non-historical and I hope that nobody is doing that. It's just plain ugly in my humble opinion.
Some entry-level products have used nickel-plating, such as some from Windlass Steelcrafts and Hanwei.
If you're not going for something historical, you can bring parts down to a plating company and they can plate them for you for a relatively inexpensive price. Depending on the thickness and the quality of your vendor, the plated finish may not hold up well to repeated use.
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G. Scott H.
Location: Arizona, USA Joined: 22 Feb 2005
Posts: 410
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| Posted: Fri 08 Jul, 2005 8:56 pm Post subject: |
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I'd go with a satin chrome finish personally. It looks very much like steel and can be done for very reasonable prices. Good example here: http://www.guildplaters.com/finishes/satin_chrome.html . Nickel typically ends up looking really gaudy, and it can eventually develop an ugly yellowish patina (if you've ever seen an old nickel plated gun, you know what I mean). 
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Jared Smith
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| Posted: Sat 09 Jul, 2005 3:12 pm Post subject: |
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Thankyou much for the input.
I am still looking for the "best option" to direct Albion to execute on my Munich sword.
I have a "nickle silverode" pocket watch that was actually made during the Civil War, 1870's vintage. This is proveable, and has been assessed by at least 2 jewelers based on material composition, model inscription, and style. It has held up very well and looks pretty much like an average nickel of just a few years circulation that you would take out of your pocket in terms of patina. Based on that, I had thought a combination nickel silver plating could be a reasonable look (like fairly new condition steel), but still durable.
As alternatives, I am considering the "fire blueing" which I have seen on other Albion swords. Twenty years from now I don't want a "plumb brown" hilt section. I will oil if that is the only way....
Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence!
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This is a standard topic