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Thanks, Curt.

I did as you suggested and really scrubbed this spindle with wd-40 and smart green after polishing. Then dipped in acid solution and kept in the plating bath for 20 min. The little notch between the spindle and rest of the shaft is a convenient place to hang a copper wire. You can see how far I dipped it.

I think it came out pretty good (it does look better to the naked eye)

Thanks for sharing the tutorial again. It's been a while since I read it in detail, so it was good to revisit.

I think that looks great...

Henry wrote:

Curt A wrote:My solution for screws is to clean them and buff them to a mirror finish and they look plated... or to age them back after cleaning them, I use Super Blue liquid gun bluing.

To hold them while buffing so they don't fly out of your hand, I use ViceGrips clamped to the threaded ends.

Another way to hold screws is to run a couple of nuts onto the threads, tighten them against each other, and apply the vise (not "vice") grips to the nuts. This will prevent buggering up the threads.

Good idea, Henry... The ViceGrips I use are needle nose with ridged "teeth" in the jaws about the size of screw threads, so they mesh well without buggering them up (I'm referring mainly to wood cabinet screws, not machine screws) and clamped firmly, but not tight enough to screw up the threads. Your idea is a keeper for machine screws, which would allow ViceGrips to be used without messing up the threads.

The main reason for ViceGrips is that I use a setup with two buffing wheels mounted on a stand, powered by an electric motor. You have to stand in front of the buffing wheels to use it and a regular vice would not be an option. I started using this method years ago when I first started buffing and lost several important parts that got roughly torn out of my hands by the rotating wheels and thrown out the shop door, never to be found again. Those innocent looking cloth wheels can grab stuff and fling it in a hurry if you aren't careful. Buffing wheels powered by a several horsepower electric motor is an experience similarly hazardous to unwinding phonograph springs, if you've never tried it, not like using a tiny buffing wheel on a Dremel tool.