Seriously though I did speak to a company based near Coventry who deal with historic vehicles and they were estimating five hundred quid ish for the bits I mentioned, the biggest cost was indeed preparing the parts before the plating. When I said I was not looking for a super smooth finish, he said he was worried on two counts, that the pitting would harbour rust and other contaminants, and the same for some dome nuts with blind internal threads, also internal splines and that a lot of work was needed to ensure it didn't mess up his baths.
Saving money is also an issue as I do have quite a list of hard to source parts yet to find or get made and I figure to keep the cosmetic budget as low as reasonable as that can be improved bit by bit later if my piggy bank is still alive and I have the energy. The plan is to get the bike complete and registered with its original registration number, looking as neat as I can get it and then.................well who knows??
I never considered heat treatment Moxi, all the parts we are talking about are steel so should be OK at 400 deg C, I will do a tester on a scrap part to find out, how long do you reckon for a soak?? Also I do need more bits blasted so maybe the heat treatment then blast is the way to go. All good fun down in my shed of sanctuary and keeps my mind off all the radiotherapy crap. Better not tell them down at the Marsden I am mucking about with Hexavalent Chrome salts though eh?...........just kidding!!
For reference.....
TTFN
Desp
I have a gear lever from another bike project for the future, so I heated to 400 with a small ish gas torch for maybe ten minutes and let it air cool naturally after which the Chrome seemed to come off nicely with a slow speed sander with a fairly worn disc. I use those hook and loop discs on a flexible backing pad and it gave a pretty nice finish, five minutes work cleaned up half the lever. Previously there was barely any chrome removed so that is a success I reckon. I am now soaking the rest of the chrome in strong NaOH as cleaning the fiddly areas will be a lot easier by dipping. I may try getting a light coat of Copper on it tomorrow.