To Copper or Not To Copper

[pelletman]

Hello Everyone,

I'm restoring some antique bicycle parts, and I have a couple of questions:

Some of the parts I'm doing are going to have to have copper to fill pits in them.

Some of the parts I can get the steel clean enough to get a nice finish, I'm using electrolic nickel, plating with current.

Do I need to copper all the parts, even the ones I could plate directly on?

Is there a difference in the color of the finish if I don't copper?

Does the copper help with rust or corrosion prevention? IE would the nickel over steel rust faster than the nickel over copper?

Obviously it's quite a bit easier to plate directly to the stell, but I want to get this right and have uniform color & finish.

Thanks!

Dave

[jimcarry]

For the best uniform finish I would recommend using copper on all the pieces
copper will help with corrosion prevention and give you the uniform look you are trying to achieve make sure that the part is cleaned and polished to the finish you want when you are done plating.
The best finish you start with is the best finish you will end up with
Good luck Dave
any other questions let me know

[pelletman]

Thanks Jim!