Chrome plating?

E

EricRedAxe

Joined
Jun 10, 2019
Messages
12
Allot of other hand tools are sold with chrome finish as an option, it there something about the chrome plating process that makes it bad for knifes?
 
Industrial hard chrome is a very good finish for knives. The only thing better would be nitriding.
Of course, the edge would not be plated.
Due to the chemicals used, chrome plating is usually a commercial endeavor-and is heavily regulated.
 
I have seen several chrome plated knife and all of them don't looks that good IRL to be honest. I think that the case why Cr plating isn't so popular.
 
Chrome plating has been done on knives...but for what purpose? Mad Dog chrome plated their knives (O1). If you need a knife for work in moist or salty environments either:

A) learn to take care of the blade, or,
B) use stainless.
 
When I see a chrome plated blade I tend to thing "Cheap Chinese junk", not a high end knife.
 
Satin industrial hard chrome looks nothing like polished bumper chrome plating.
Polished chrome looks almost identical to highly polished steel.
 
Ken H> said:
When I see a chrome plated blade I tend to thing "Cheap Chinese junk", not a high end knife.
Click to expand...

Ken , i don t know what and where you see chrome plated blade but are you sure you understand that there is difference with chrome plated and hard chrome , big difference ? Hard chrome finish is most beautiful thing i was ever seen on steel .For me it is better looking then any other coating like TiN , TIAN....DLC...On knife on gun on whatever it was applied , especially if steel was fine sand blasted before hard chroming .I have done hard chrome on several knife but my ability to take good picture..............Another note ,hard chrome is about 70-72HRC so no easy to scratch/file will glide like on diamond/ and have much lower coefficient of friction then steel .............
Look this and tell me that you don t like :)
7w79EYC.jpg
 
Last edited:
Natlek said:
Ken , i don t know what and where you see chrome plated blade but are you sure you understand that there is difference with chrome plated and hard chrome , big difference ?
Click to expand...
Oh, I agree Natlek - there can be a BIG difference in chrome plating. My statement was not meant to be a definitive statement, but just what my "first" thought is when thinking "chrome plated blade". I guess my thinking goes back to the cheap "Saturday night special" pistols that were on the market so many years ago and so many of them were chrome plated. It also seems I can remember seeing many cheap Chinese knifes (or was it Japanese) knives of so many years ago that were chrome plated.

Just for the record, yes that is a VERY beautiful pistol.
 
First, thank you for the replys.
Second,
Bill DeShivs said:
Industrial hard chrome is a very good finish for knives. The only thing better would be nitriding.
Of course, the edge would not be plated.
Due to the chemicals used, chrome plating is usually a commercial endeavor-and is heavily regulated.
Click to expand...

allenkey said:
https://www.caswellplating.com/ever...ating-kits/hard-chrome-plating-kit-1-gal.html

That place has everything you could imagine for plating
Click to expand...

Natlek said:
Ken , i don t know what and where you see chrome plated blade but are you sure you understand that there is difference with chrome plated and hard chrome , big difference ? Hard chrome finish is most beautiful thing i was ever seen on steel .For me it is better looking then any other coating like TiN , TIAN....DLC...On knife on gun on whatever it was applied , especially if steel was fine sand blasted before hard chroming .I have done hard chrome on several knife but my ability to take good picture..............Another note ,hard chrome is about 70-72HRC so no easy to scratch/file will glide like on diamond/ and have much lower coefficient of friction then steel .............
Look this and tell me that you don t like :)
7w79EYC.jpg
Click to expand...
Thank you for the information and resources.
 
navman said:
Chrome plating has been done on knives...but for what purpose? Mad Dog chrome plated their knives (O1). If you need a knife for work in moist or salty environments either:

A) learn to take care of the blade, or,
B) use stainless.
Click to expand...

Lol thank you, I know how to care for the steel, and I don't think stainless steel plates very well. ;)
I want to use it for an asthetic reason so the practicality of coatings in general isn't all that important.

Ken H> said:
When I see a chrome plated blade I tend to thing "Cheap Chinese junk", not a high end knife.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, though I'm not trying to make a high end knife, I'm trying to make a hand tool.
 
Ken H> said:
Oh, I agree Natlek - there can be a BIG difference in chrome plating. My statement was not meant to be a definitive statement, but just what my "first" thought is when thinking "chrome plated blade". I guess my thinking goes back to the cheap "Saturday night special" pistols that were on the market so many years ago and so many of them were chrome plated. It also seems I can remember seeing many cheap Chinese knifes (or was it Japanese) knives of so many years ago that were chrome plated.

Just for the record, yes that is a VERY beautiful pistol.
Click to expand...
Probably you mean/don t like decorative chrome plating...like on car bumper .First is applied cooper ,then nickel then chrome. Hard chrome is directly applied on steel ...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top