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silver plate

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Phil Coffins

69 Cal.
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My replica 1862 police is a nice looking pistol. But looking at the pictures of originals and reading about the details it became clear the grip frame needs silver plated! Found on the internet magic lotions claiming to put real sliver onto copper based alloys and ordered it. Short story I couldn't get the stuff to do it. A call to the folks I ordered it from for tec support yielded no help but she said she would send me another bottle. Not what I wanted to hear. The new bottle arrived and is different stuff with the exact same instructions. This works well! My photos aren't very good and the grips are different but I hope it gives an idea.
Before and after:
IMG_0453 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr
IMG_0687 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr
 
It's certainly more attractive that way. Let us know how it wears. My suspicion is that it will wear off rather quickly. I'd be willing to bet that only electro-plating will give you the bond and durability you are really looking for though. If you do a yellow pages (to the extent those even exist any more) search in your town I would guess there are several plating shops near you.

While I certainly understand the "I want do it all myself and not drive all over town---twice" mentality, sometimes the extra effort and expense is justified to obtain a superior product in the end.
 
Phil where did you get your plating solution?

OSHA and the EPA have shut down a lot of plating shops and driven prices through the roof. A number of years ago a friend told me it would cost $20,000 to do all the chrome on his '41 Buick 4 door convertible. Now he was a perfectionist but I was stunned as I grew up in an era when we chromed everything under the hood and other parts too.

Back in the '60s I had one of those brush electroplating kits and did a couple of guns. They came out fairly well and it didn't cost much.

Here is a link to a platers supply. I have been thinking of getting some of their kits but realistically will never get to it.

https://caswellplating.com/
BTW, love the silver, the gun really needs it. I'm jealous, maybe I'll have to do my Pocket Police and Pocket Navy.
 
This solution was found on the internet and the replacement was a different product. What didn’t work is Medallion brand and the one that works is Science Solutions brand. The plating is very thin as one might expect. This is fine for what I’m doing. The original Colt that I have that inspired the project has only traces of silver on the inside surfaces of the frame. These remains are very thin and most of the original examples I’ve seen are worn too. Few have a complete plating left even the cased one.
I did a 1848 baby dragoon replica this afternoon and it went on well. Be prepared to do some sanding to remove the scratches that you hadn’t noticed before you polish to a bright finish to make it take the shiny silver.
The “Liquid Silver” by Science Solutions web site is
www.sciencesolutionsllc.com
 
I also decided to silver plate my Colt pistols for the same reason. All of the civilian Colts made in America had silver plated trigger guards and backstraps.

The first thing I did was to go to one of the places in Phoenix that silver plates things like old lamps, silverware and silver service tableware.
They wanted me to pay both arms and part of a leg to just plate one of them.
Faced with that I ended up buying some silver plating stuff on the web. It's called, "Medallion Liquid Silver Lotion" and comes in a 4 ounce squeeze bottle.

Like Phil, my first attempts didn't go too well but after working at it I found that if I rubbed a small area VERY hard, it would apply a nice silver coat on the cleaned brass parts. Here is a picture of my silver plated Colts. The top one is a 1849 Pocket revolver, the middle one is a 1851 Navy and the bottom one is a 1862 Police

Silverplate.jpg


The 3rd Model Dragoon and the 1849 Pocket model are shown below

Silver plate 001a.jpg




The only one I have now is the 1849 Pocket and the 3rd Model Dragoon because the other ones were stolen. I don't handle them too much but the silver plating is just as good as the day I applied it in 2008.
 
Interesting, the Medallion Liquid Silver Lotion that I bought wouldn’t take on brass or copper for me. On the third attempt with it I rubbed for a timed twenty minutes on a spot 1/2 by 1 1/2 inches and got a highly polished brass piece but no silver. Zonie is clearly stronger then me! :thumb:
The new stuff did the complete grip frame in five minute.
IMG_0689 by Oliver Sudden, on Flickr
 
Last edited:
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