Metal finishing Q&As since 1989

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Nickel plating of ceremonial spurs - how thick should it be?

January 29, 2009

I have been given a project to arrange the 'chrome' plating of ceremonial riding spurs for a Canadian police department and need an answer - how much nickel (not chrome, first thing I found out) should be plated on these objects to get a good nickel finish, a durable one (not like our badges which have 20um of nickel under a 0.20um gold top layer), since these spurs, while not worn often, will get bumped, hit, scratched, etc. during their lifetime. The current plater does not know in terms of µm or thous and is unable to tell me. I have had conflicting information - anywhere from 2-3 µm up to 127um. Any help I can get is appreciated.

Thanks.

Andrew Wardroper
spec writer - Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

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First of two simultaneous responses --

I would specify 0.001" of electroless nickel. It is more uniform and can be nearly chrome bright and tends to be a bit whiter than some electro deposited nickel. It is harder and will wear longer.

James Watts
- Navarre, Florida
January 30, 2009

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Second of two simultaneous responses -- January 30, 2009

How much of what sort of abuse will they see, how long do you want them to last, how much are you willing to pay?

If you want them to last forever, make them out of polished stainless steel.

If you must have chrome plate, use .0015" of semi-bright nickel overplated with .0005" bright nickel and 10 microinches chrome.

That will give you a finish at least equal to chrome plating on a truck bumper.

If you must use single layer bright nickel, go with .002" + chrome.

Jeffrey Holmes, CEF
Spartanburg, South Carolina

Thanks for the response and information/ideas. I have since determined that a 20 µm coating will be sufficient, it's what some of our members have had done in the past and it works apparently fine. These don't see much use and only scuffing/scrapes during ceremonial marching, parades, funerals, etc. We don't use horses much anymore.

Andrew Wardroper
- Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
March 9, 2009