Silver plating pistol furniture???

[Justin Urbantas]

Pete G had the good suggestion of getting my pistol furniture silver plated, rather than going the solid sterling route. Do you guys think that would work? Also, how do you think it would hold up on the trigger guard where you hold it, and the thimbles where the rod goes in? Would it tarnish the same as sterling? Thanks

[jerrywh]

I have done a fair amount of casting silver mounts and also plating in gold and silver. You can plate with pure silver or sterling. It will wear off in time depending on how thick the plating is. If you plan to shoot it quite a bit I would go with the solid sterling mounts. If you plan to sell it as a piece of art then there is the plating option but I would make sure the buyer knew iot was plated. Plating is not cheap either.

[Carl Young]

Justin, just my thoughts, but I wondered if you had considered plating. The tarnishing/patina being a surface reaction should be the same given equivalent alloys. Silver is a soft metal and so wear on plated parts could well be an issue depending on the alloy and thickness of the plate. I don't work with silver often enough to know off the top of my head which alloy would be the most suitable.

This is an interesting project, I look forward to hearing about your progress.
Carl

[jerrywh]

People that have never done lost wax casting do not understand the time and expense of casting a set of silver hardware. As a result they won't pay for them. From beginning to end of the process it takes me about Three weeks to do a set but I would cast about 3 to 5 sets at once and there is about $400 to $600 worth of silver sprues and stuff left over plus a couple hundred worth of materials such as wax and investment.  I will not do it any more because I can make three times as much doing my own stuff and engraving. That is why they are not available anymore. At times I couldn't sell them for the price of the silver.

[Kingsburyarms]

Justin, PM Sent.....

[Mike Brooks]

People that have never done lost wax casting do not understand the time and expense of casting a set of silver hardware. As a result they won't pay for them. From beginning to end of the process it takes me about Three weeks to do a set but I would cast about 3 to 5 sets at once and there is about $400 to $600 worth of silver sprues and stuff left over plus a couple hundred worth of materials such as wax and investment.  I will not do it any more because I can make three times as much doing my own stuff and engraving. That is why they are not available anymore. At times I couldn't sell them for the price of the silver.

Sorry, not my experience. Expensive, but not ridiculous.

[Mike Brooks]

Pete G had the good suggestion of getting my pistol furniture silver plated, rather than going the solid sterling route. Do you guys think that would work? Also, how do you think it would hold up on the trigger guard where you hold it, and the thimbles where the rod goes in? Would it tarnish the same as sterling? Thanks

I doubt you'll ever use that pistol enough to wear off the silver plating. May take two life times these days.

[Rolf]

I would not use silverplating on a gun. I expect the black powder residue will eat through it quickly. The plating is only 0.0005 inches thick on jewelery and 0.0010 inches on high grad silverplate table wear. You could make what you need from sheet Stock, like I did for these pistols. http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=14643.0
Here are links to the tutorials:

http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=27793.0
http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=32410.0
http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=6615.0
http://americanlongrifles.org/forum/index.php?topic=704.0


Best regards
Rolf

[45-110]

Colt used silver plated trigger guards on the 1851 navy's and a few others. Seemed to last through the years.

[Mike Brooks]

Colt used silver plated trigger guards on the 1851 navy's and a few others. Seemed to last through the years.

Odd eh?

[Bob Roller]

Back in the late 1950's I built two rifles and the butt plate and trigger guards were
silver plated. A local man here,Edisson Adkins did the plating and did a fine job.
The gun I kept and used as a match rifle was the 58 caliber light rifle that had the
first octagon 58 caliber barrel made by Bill Large when he got the big shop operational
in 1958.I used the rifle until 1962 and then sold it. I heard later that a later owner let
it go to ruin by leaving it in a open boat.As long as I had it there was no problem with
wear on the butt plate or the trigger guard.

Bob Roller

[G_T]

Nowdays silver plate is electroplate. That is very thin. There was an old technique which was hot dip. That plating was much thicker. I know little about it other than having seen a video of it still being done somewhere other than the US in a little craftsman's shop. It's possible the old plating was a hot dip. I haven't researched when electroplating came in, or chemical plating which would also be thin. Hot dip is a pretty low tech method, though with the price of silver nowdays you need a lot to do it!

Gerald

[Justin Urbantas]

I wonder if the thickness of the plating is enough to make me have to adjust the inlets of the parts. I wonder if they would fit back into their mortises, or if a bit of wood would need to be shaved off.   Kingsbury arms may have some parts for me, if not I think doing the furniture in brass, and silver plating sounds like my best bet.

[Joe S]

Several thoughts come to mind Justin:

1. Hammer

2. Inlet the parts after they're plated.

3. Your inletting is good, but I don't think it's that good.

plating is only 0.0005 inches thick on jewelery and 0.0010 inches on high grad silverplate table wear

[Justin Urbantas]

Several thoughts come to mind Justin:

1. Hammer

2. Inlet the parts after they're plated.

3. Your inletting is good, but I don't think it's that good.

plating is only 0.0005 inches thick on jewelery and 0.0010 inches on high grad silverplate table wear

You don't think I can inlet to within  a thousandth of an inch? Where's the faith?   Yeah, I probably don't need to worry about that.

[jerrywh]

Mike Brooks. What part of the  is not your experience?