centercast mills restoration

[Darrol]

thought id share my latest mills .I purchased it from a seller in south Africa(surprised it got to the uk) but for £85 I couldn't resist it.
it was hollow and copper plated when it arrived . I stripped it with ammonium hydroxide over two days .then gave it a nice coat of shellac and baked it to darken the colour for 40mins at gas mark 6 to darken it.the baseplug and filler was replaced and a no5 striker and aluminium centertube was fitted. I think it turned out nice .
cheers Darrol

 

[Millsman]

Great job. Another rescued! I'm puzzled by the middle stage where it looks nickle plated.

John

 

[Darrol]

Thank you John .
The pic is showing that it had been polished before plating ..I took the shine off with gunblue .
I had a feeling it was going to be nickel plated having been plated it copper .
It's alot happier now .

Darrol

 

[Millsman]

It's just that nickle plating grenades is far more common than copper. I was wondering if somehow the Nickle had been exposed to something that turned it a copper colour.

John

 

[Darrol]

Ahhh . It was definitely copper plate . . Absolutely no sign of nickel or chrome . Make me wonder why someone would plate it In copper . Didn't look overly pretty. It had a no23mk2 plug dated 1 /17 on it . .thought this was a bit to late on a centercast with small ring .
Darrol.

 

[millsbomber]

Correct me if I'm wrong but does it have to be copper plated before croming. .....

 

[siegfreid]

Millsbomber is right . Before either chrome or nickel plating , an iron object would normally be copper coated otherwise the bright metal won't evenly attach .

 

[Darrol]

That's what I thought . .but I thought it was more for nickel than chrome .
Will more than likely have been an unfinished project.
Darrol.

 

[siegfreid]

That's what I thought . .but I thought it was more for nickel than chrome .
Will more than likely have been an unfinished project.
Darrol.

No . Applies equally to both .

 

[Darrol]

No . Applies equally to both .

Strange as It's not always necessary though as I've had a few mills that was plated in nickel and chrome but neither had copper under the plating . I've seen it done on lots of old household stuff but not on a mills before .somebody must have liked the copper colour .

 

[Millsman]

Interesting comments re plating. Dave, Nickle plating is different from Chroming.

Either way Darro,l you have a fine grenade and have done an excellent restoration.

John

 

[Darrol]

Interesting comments re plating. Dave, Nickle plating is different from Chroming.

Either way Darro,l you have a fine grenade and have done an excellent restoration.

John

Thank you John . I'm happy with it .
Cheers .Darrol