Snip
For gold and silver I thought of gilt but it doesn't produce the right
finish for me.

Thanks for any help.

TR
John Moorhead is on the right track, laying in a strip of metal in a
routed groove is the only way to approach what you want to do.
I've done this a number of times with steel bars up to 1" wide. My
suggestion would be to choose a section of brass bar that is the width you
want, route the right size groove, size the bar for length. Take the bars
to your friendly electroplater and get the finish you want. Just caution
the plater to not overplate the nickel and give you a dog bone on the end,
had this happen too. You want to do the polishing or satin finishing
yourself to keep the edges sharp and solder a 12" length of 18 ga. wire to
the back side of the bar at each end, this will make the plater very happy.
You can easily remove the wire after plating and get rid of the solder with
a Dremel. While this process is involved, you'll get what you want with a
lot lower cost than solid precious metal strips. BTW, medium super glue is
great for holding the bars in place. Also, there are either carbide router
bits in most sizes or end mills which will cut the groove.

Ed Angell