On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 18:52:58 -0800, David Nebenzahl wrote:

Look into having it replated...might not cost much. I've had stuff
silver- and brass-plated, many years ago, and neither was very expensive
at the time.

True that--maybe.

I guess I'm lucky, in that I'm within walking distance of a place (in
Berkeley) that does metal plating and finishing. Dunno what they charge.

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.

Thanks,
Will

On 12/28/2010 4:54 PM spake thus:

On 12/28/2010 6:49 AM, Wilfred Xavier Pickles wrote:

I bought 2 end-table lamps years ago. Neither cheap nor expensive,
like the common fare at a decent dept. store. 95% metal, the bottom
1/3 is brass (or similar) plated steel (according to my magnet),
the upper 2/3 is evidently real brass.

The bottom 1/3 of each is corroding and looks pretty bad.

I don't wanna spend $100 for another pair of rustable lamps. Would
like to re-condition what I have.

What can be done with plated steel? Surface-prep and paint?
Anything else come to mind?

Look into having it replated...might not cost much. I've had stuff
silver- and brass-plated, many years ago, and neither was very expensive
at the time.

True that--maybe.

I guess I'm lucky, in that I'm within walking distance of a place (in
Berkeley) that does metal plating and finishing. Dunno what they charge.

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 $$$.


--
Comment on quaint Usenet customs, from Usenet:

To me, the *plonk...* reminds me of the old man at the public hearing
who stands to make his point, then removes his hearing aid as a sign
that he is not going to hear any rebuttals.

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

On 12/28/2010 8:45 AM Wilfred Xavier Pickles spake thus:

On Tue, 28 Dec 2010 18:52:58 -0800, David Nebenzahl
wrote:

Look into having it replated...might not cost much. I've had
stuff silver- and brass-plated, many years ago, and neither was
very expensive at the time.

True that--maybe.

I guess I'm lucky, in that I'm within walking distance of a place
(in Berkeley) that does metal plating and finishing. Dunno what
they charge.

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.


--
Comment on quaint Usenet customs, from Usenet:

To me, the *plonk...* reminds me of the old man at the public hearing
who stands to make his point, then removes his hearing aid as a sign
that he is not going to hear any rebuttals.

On Dec 29, 12:54*am, Wilfred Xavier Pickles
wrote:
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- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I googled "brass electroplating kits" and got about a half-million
hits. Here's a random example:

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/brass.htm

Paul

"Pavel314" wrote in message
...
On Dec 29, 12:54 am, Wilfred Xavier Pickles
wrote:
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- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I googled "brass electroplating kits" and got about a half-million
hits. Here's a random example:

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/brass.htm

Paul

That sure looks like overkill for a pair of lamps.
I have several lamps that were made form hand-blown glass.
In humid Florida the bases got pretty cruddy. I checked the phone book for
plating shops and brought all the bases over.
I left it to the shop to clean and replate with chrome.
The experts did it and I got expert work done. I don't remember the cost but
it was less than $100 for the four of them.

Sometimes it is not a good idea to venture into a project that has to be
done right the first time if you are an amateur.

Charlie

Charlie wrote:
"Pavel314" wrote in message
...
On Dec 29, 12:54 am, Wilfred Xavier Pickles
wrote:
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- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I googled "brass electroplating kits" and got about a half-million
hits. Here's a random example:

http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/brass.htm

Paul

That sure looks like overkill for a pair of lamps.
I have several lamps that were made form hand-blown glass.
In humid Florida the bases got pretty cruddy. I checked the phone
book for plating shops and brought all the bases over.
I left it to the shop to clean and replate with chrome.
The experts did it and I got expert work done. I don't remember the
cost but it was less than $100 for the four of them.

Sometimes it is not a good idea to venture into a project that has to
be done right the first time if you are an amateur.

Charlie

agreed. some of the chemicals involved in plating will turn your location
into a hazmat problem. most of them are quite deadly to be around,
especially if you like breathing and such.