how to nickel plate the edge of a turntable

[ambrola]

I would clean off any dirt and loose rust then leave it alone. I would rather see honest aging & corrosion, than polished bare metal which I believe looks tacky and messed with.

Not me. I like them to look good. I polish all the bright work.

Well yes, I polish brightwork too, when there's anything left to polish. I realize this is my take on things and not meaning to criticize.

Not criticizing you my friend. Just stating my opinion. Its a never ending discussion when it comes to cleaning up a antique. I also have quite a large coin collection that I inherited and bought. A cleaned coin is almost worth about ⅓ of its original value. I don't have any rare phonographs, so I clean them pretty good.

[gramophone78]

Dick,
I have used files for this. It is a long and hard process, but you can get it to look new. You start with a rough file to get the junk off. Then you switch to a fine file to get the scratches out. Call me.
Ronnie

I'm rather curious how you remove the "file" marks..??. Can you show us all an example you have polished this way with files "only" please ?. Generally, if there is little to no plate left, using "red" jewelers wheel rouge followed by "green" should produce a mirror like finish in a matter of minutes. However, if the plate is intact and you do not wish to polish by hand.......the "green" rouge will work very nicely. Again, it is best to tape (green masking I find the best) the edge of the felt. This is just to avoid getting "black" on it.

Of course, this is if you have a two wheel buffer at home. Otherwise, I would have a shop do it for a couple bucks....