Blackening Nickel Plated Items
-----Q. I have some nickel plated items I would like to blacken. Any suggestions. I know nickel is pretty resistant to oxidation.
Steve Krevekplating - Bismarck, North Dakota, USA
2006
|
A. Immersion in 50% nitric acid, warm (say 120 °F) for 10-20 seconds will blacken nickel.  Jeffrey Holmes, CEF Spartanburg, South Carolina 2006 A. Oil it very very sparingly with boiled linseed oil ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] (or any other edible oil or fat), then heat it slowly to 400 °C. Repeat if needed. Instead of oil you can use 20% shellac solution.Good luck! Goran Budija- Cerovski vrh Croatia 2006 |
Q. I currently procure a cable strain relief that is made from nickel plated brass. I am required to blacken this part. Does anyone know of a good process for this. I was told that I should try black zinc coat, but this might oxidize quickly as this part will be mostly used outdoors.
carlos santos- Billerica, Massachusetts
August 23, 2018
A. Hi Carlos. I think the most robust solution would probably be either black chrome plating or black electroless nickel plating.
You will be plating onto articles which have weeks-old or years-old nickel plating on them, which will be very passive. You can try activating it with a Wood's Nickel Strike before plating ... but definitely run samples before committing to the process. Good luck.
Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
(Ted is available for instant or longterm help)
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey
August 2018
Q, A, or Comment on THIS thread -or- Start a NEW Thread