On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 22:36:50 -0800, David Nebenzahl wrote:

If you go that route, you'll want to disassemble the lamp, separate
the parts that need refinished, and clean them up first. Sandpaper,
steel wool, wire wheel, whatever weapons you have at hand. This
should make a bit less work for the plater, and hopefully less
$$$.

Advice well taken. Already disassembled one.

Every great once-in-a-while my hindside is viciously attacked by a
wild hair ...

Just occurred to me ... why not electrolysis?

Conceivably twice. Once to remove rust. Once again to apply new
plating.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Why not? It's fun. You can see where your other self is headed.

Speaking of electrolysis, don't know how to plate (and that involves
nasty chemicals), but have done electrolytic rust removal many times.
Mix sodium carbonate (available at many places for swimming pool pH
adjustment, or as "washing soda"), place item to be cleaned in the soup
as the cathode (negative terminal), put an iron or steel anode in, and
let 'er rip. Works great. I use 12 volts DC at about 5 amps.

That's pert near -it-, in a nutshell.

I used it once to de-rust a 4-into-1 mot'cycle exhaust using
a 12v trickle-charger. Was clumsy b/c of the size of the
pipes.

De-rusting the lamp base oughta be a piece-o-cake. Have to
look into the possibility of electro-plating. The easy part
is reversing the anode/cathode IIRC. Choosing an appropriate
solution/substance-to-plate is another matter. Any ideas
for this most welcome.

Prost,
Will