Chrome plating a 33 grill advice

Flathead37

Flathead37

Member
Looking for some advice. I have a 33 grill to plate. Has a few bends and the crank hole needs repair.
Is there a plater that specializes in 33/34 grills?
 
Jon Wright Custom Chrome in Grafton, OH, has done lots of them and considers them a specialty of his:

http://www.customchromeplating.com/

There are a few who do the really fine craftsmanship, the straightening, filing, filling, and polishing and then use a local chrome shop to do the different stages of plating for them and they can turn out the best product but it takes a lot of hours depending on the grille you start with. Mike McKenna is one, I believe, that specializes in '33-'34 grilles and there's another guy in Washington state that fixed one for me out of a wrecked '34 that turned out beautiful, have to try to find his name.

Like a paint job, all of the labor and the quality of the end product is in the preparation.
 
Hi; The key is the placement of the DC electrical contacts on the grill. Use a platter that has lots of experience. Newc
 
Afer talking with several big name platers, including the one that plates Nottingham's, NO ONE has the ability to plate one like Henry did, with the slat sides left satin, and the faces shiney. They said that the nickel that went on satin and then was buffed on the shiney surfaces is now unavailable. The new nickle goes on shiney and needs little buffing. It was suggested to scotch brite the slat sides back to satin.

Does anyone know if Jon Wright or anyone else can do this the early Ford way?
 
hotrodA said:
Afer talking with several big name platers, including the one that plates Nottingham's, NO ONE has the ability to plate one like Henry did, with the slat sides left satin, and the faces shiney. They said that the nickel that went on satin and then was buffed on the shiney surfaces is now unavailable. The new nickle goes on shiney and needs little buffing. It was suggested to scotch brite the slat sides back to satin.

Does anyone know if Jon Wright or anyone else can do this the early Ford way?
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Not a chemist but something doesn't sound quite right. HS chemistry described that copper, nickle and chromium are elements in ion solution-form prior to plating so should be the same, old or new. Maybe platers just avoid the nickle plating stage for some reason?? The original 33 thin bars were all satin chrome all around and the 34s were polished at the front of the bars with satin (unpolished sides) with respect to all the original grille I have looked at.
 
A lot of what the copper/nickel deposit looks like after plating depends on the surface prep. A satin finish usually indicates less surface polishing prior to plating. How much it's polished after plating also makes a difference.
 
Mike Kleeba in Ontario used to be "THEE" guy to send them to but since his passing I haven't heard of anyone specializing in them. I know you get what you pay for but here at Hershey a friend picked up a completed on from a plater and sent it back. He paid top dollar and still didn't get an acceptable job.
 
Barn Junk said:
The original 33 thin bars were all satin chrome all around and the 34s were polished at the front of the bars with satin (unpolished sides) with respect to all the original grille I have looked at.
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That's interesting. Thanks for the info. Now to find the right plater.
 
Here is a genuine NOS 1934 Ford grille. It shows that the sides of the bars were not polished, only the fronts.
MIKE :)
CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE - Twice
 

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I think on 33's the bars were not polished they were dull. and the outer portion surround was bright chrome
 
Wow!! A NOS grille, I can only imagine.

The modern, all shiney plating that you see today is way too much bling, IMHO
 
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