Electroplating high carbon blades with nickel

[Hammarfest]

Howdy all! This is my first post, I'm new here.

So, I have a few friends who have requested kitchen knives, where normally I forge combat blades, so this will be a new challenge. I have a lot of good 5160 steel, so that is what I will be using.
I thought it best to plate the blades with nickel, which should give a lot of protection from rust and such except for the edge of course. Lot's of DIY guides on youtube on how to electroplate with nickel, but every one of them says to first etch your blade in a solution of 50/50 hydrochloric acid/water for about a minute first.
Hydrochloric acid does not seem readily available at local hardware stores, but muriatic acid is. I know that muriatic acid is a diluted and less pure form of hydrochloric acid, but can it be used as a substitute here?

So, if I were going to etch my blade in the 50/50 hydrochloric acid for 1 minute to prepare for electroplating with nickel, any recommendations on what solution and amount of time to etch using muriatic acid instead?

Thanks!
Tony

 

[Bill DeShivs]

There is really no reason to pickle the blades before plating.
Etching will make the plating satin, rather than bright. Straight muriatic will have the blades frosty in a minute or so.
You might want to look at having the blades hard chrome plated. Mahovsky's Metalife is a good plater.

 

[Hammarfest]

There is really no reason to pickle the blades before plating.
Etching will make the plating satin, rather than bright. Straight muriatic will have the blades frosty in a minute or so.
You might want to look at having the blades hard chrome plated. Mahovsky's Metalife is a good plater.

I'd rather have the blades bright than satin, so I'll skip the acid then on the first go around and see how it turns out, thank you Bill!

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Welcome Hammarfast.
Fill out your prfile with your location and a bit about you. This helps us make better answers.

While you can chrome plate things yourself, it will be far better to have it done professionally. Properly done with a high polished finish takes many steps that aren't available at home. The equipment is a bit more than a battery charger and a bottle of chrome plating solution, too.

 

[bikerector]

Is there concerns of toxicity with nickel and chrome plating for kitchen knives? Hard chrome is a bit of a butt from a regulations standpoint in the auto industry, at least for plating on plastic. I would also be curious if the coating flakes eventuall since you will be sharpening the edge and creating a weak point in the coating.

I haven't heard or seen people electroplating the actual blade.

 

[tiguy7]

Is there concerns of toxicity with nickel and chrome plating for kitchen knives? Hard chrome is a bit of a butt from a regulations standpoint in the auto industry, at least for plating on plastic. I would also be curious if the coating flakes eventuall since you will be sharpening the edge and creating a weak point in the coating.

I haven't heard or seen people electroplating the actual blade.

Hard Chrome is not a decorative coat. It is usually applied for wear resistance such as covering tools or building up a bearing race. It can’t be applied directly to plastic, but if it could, the difference thermal expansion and the brittleness of the coat would cause separation.
I have seen decorative Chrome plate (Copper, Nickel, & Chrome) on bayonets and polished helmets for color guard uniforms.
Electroplating on steel can lead to Hydrogen embrittlement, so the parts must be baked after plating to lose the Hydrogen.

 

[bikerector]

Hard Chrome is not a decorative coat. It is usually applied for wear resistance such as covering tools or building up a bearing race. It can’t be applied directly to plastic, but if it could, the difference thermal expansion and the brittleness of the coat would cause separation.
I have seen decorative Chrome plate (Copper, Nickel, & Chrome) on bayonets and polished helmets for color guard uniforms.
Electroplating on steel can lead to Hydrogen embrittlement, so the parts must be baked after plating to lose the Hydrogen.

Thanks for the clarification. I'm far less familiar with the metal plating applications since that's not the focus of the business I'm at, and I'm very new to the decorative plating industry. The printed circuit board stuff is the next set of processes I need to learn. I didn't realize there was a big difference between hard chrome and bright chrome, decorative, plating. I'm still figuring out the terminologies.

We focus on the plating on plastics processes at our office and I've only seen the process thru once in a lab setting.

 

[Hammarfest]

If there is a better solution to coating than nickel plating, I'd love to hear any other options. Stainless steel isn't an option for me, so if I do a high carbon kitchen knife, is there any other suggestions besides nickel or chrome plating that will allow for sealing the blade or preventing oxidation so the owner won't have to do a mineral oil coat after every use?

 

[Hammarfest]

Welcome Hammarfast.
Fill out your prfile with your location and a bit about you. This helps us make better answers.

While you can chrome plate things yourself, it will be far better to have it done professionally. Properly done with a high polished finish takes many steps that aren't available at home. The equipment is a bit more than a battery charger and a bottle of chrome plating solution, too.

Profile has been updated and I will definitely check out services for having these kitchen blades properly plated. I will give the first batch a go myself just learn and see how well it goes.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

Passivation and forced patina are the normal methods of preventing rust on carbon blades.

I'll be honest, plating a carbon steel kitchen blade sounds very foolish and unattractive to me.

 

[bikerector]

Passivation and forced patina are the normal methods of preventing rust on carbon blades.

I'll be honest, plating a carbon steel kitchen blade sounds very foolish and unattractive to me.

The forced patina/acid wash is what I have had the best luck with. The knives still rust but are much easier to keep from rusting by just making sure they're dry after washing them. Even without the acid wash, I was surprised how easy it was to keep carbon steel from rusting as long as it didn't sit around wet. I rarely appky oil to them anymore. Hand wash, hand dry, done.