Sound technical content, curated with aloha by
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Pine Beach, NJ

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Gold-plate lead

I do 24k gold-plating on auotmobile emblemsD.I would like to gold-plate a lead bar to make it appear to be gold,is this possible?What extra-chemicals or procedures would this involve?Thanks

Don Perry
gold-plating - Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, USA
2005

Gold plating of auto emblems is one of the few relatively easy plating processes because all you need to do is strip the chrome that was on the high quality nickel plating of the emblems and plate gold on top of that high quality finish. You don't have to worry about prep, or peeling, or brightness, or corrosion (because the nickel plating obviates all that.

Plating on lead is a whole different story. You need to clean it waterbreak-free, then acid activate it with hydrofluoric acid which is really nasty stuff, then you need to nickel plate, all before you gold plate it. And you probably can't nickel plate to the quality of OEM auto emblems. Be very careful with that HF if you proceed.

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
2005

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