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How to refinish antique metal door which was gold leafed but failed?

I purchased 4 pieces of very ornate antique metals in 1972 and used them as panels for my front door and two sidelights. They were built as inserts into oak doors. The whole ensemble weighs 600 pounds for the door and 300 pounds for each of the sidelights. When the metals were cleaned, they were beautiful. It seems that they were made of steel and had a bronze finish or coating. After a year, they started to tarnish. I took the metals out of the oak frame to have them sandblasted, took it to a Mercedes Benz Body Shop who painted them with Red EMRON paint and then had them gold leaf. The door looked spectacular for 10 years. After 10 years, the gold started to peel off. Aside from it peeling off, there seems to be algae on the gold. The guy who gold leafed the door told me that he had also gold leafed the statue of General Sherman in Central Park using the same paint and after 10 years, there seems to be a reaction between the Emron and the Gold and the same thing happened to the statue in Central Park. However, aside from the gold and paint reacting, we also have this algae problem which he attributes to lack of sunlight. The door is protected from sun and rain but it is not exposed to sunlight, and thus, there is some algae growth. We cannot clean the door because the gold would rub off at this point.

I would like to refinish the door but I need to have a finish which would give it a nice smooth coat. How about chrome coating it? Is it possible? And after that, can I gold plate it? Any idea? I know that people have taken their claw feet of antique bathtubs to have some work done on it, and then gold plate it. I cannot find someone who can do it.

Cristina Chan Johnston
homeowner-collector - Huntingtown, Maryland, USA
2003

Hi, Cristina

Ten years isn't really a shabby lifetime for something exposed to the exterior environment, so I think what you did the first time was more of a success than a failure :-)

But yes, it is possible to apply a heavy nickel plating to these items and then gold plate them. This has been done with a lot of success on motorcycle parts as well as automobile emblems. Please see our Shops Directory, which is arranged alphabetically, for shops who might be able to do this nickel and gold plating for you.

Strange as it may seem, gold appears to be a nutrient for algae; it may be a smaller problem for gold electroplating than for gold leaf, but I'm not really sure on that one. You might go to a pet store and look for some algae killer that is used in aquariums; this has been used as an additive to some gold plating tanks to discourage algae growth in the plating shop. Good luck!

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
March 14, 2011