Could Rhodium plating be over rated??

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Smitty37

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Is Rhodium worth the extra cost. It is a tad brighter than chrome, not quite as bright as white gold made with palladium. It has good hardness but it bears up well under frictiion which make it well suited for pens. The plating is very thin because it tends to be brittle if plated very thick. It will crack and separate from the base metal. It is a tricky plating process because the baths must be kept so pure. But....it is plated so thin that the cost of the actual Rhodium in minimal....a troy ounce processed for plating at 20 to 30 micro inches would go a long way.

For looks - side by side you might notice it to be brighter than chrome, not as bright as white gold made with paladium and probably not quite as bright as sliver..it is sometimes plated over silver but it is to increase the wearability not the brightness.

Since I don't hear about or see much wear on chrome pens, I think it is a matter of taste on low and middle range pens. I'd go with it on the high end myself - it doesn't change the cost at that end enough to worry about it.
 

Smitty37

Passed Away Mar 29, 2018
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My thoughts on the OPs original questions are mixed in Red below:

I realize that Rhodium is like the hardness metal know. But considering the cost of rhodium over $1300 per troy oz. and has been as high as $8000 per troy oz. I cant see the plating being very thick on rhodium pens.

And most of the info in this thread does seem to tie out with what one USA plater says:
Rhodium Plating / Rodium Plating - Proplate

is that a "typical" plating thickness is 20-30 micro inches. Not too far off from the tested stuff in the other thread and from Andrews link - and yes, not very thick overall... but par for most jewelry from what it seems.

How does Rhodium compare to chrome? Chromium is by far cheaper, so wouldn't pens that are plated with chrome have a little thicker plating???

Don't know if chrome would be "thicker", but no matter what I don't think any of the actual top plating is very thick - it may be possible that the chrome is thinner. In most info I've found, things that are listed as chrome plate is a thicker nickel plate with a thin chrome on top of the nickel. It would be Dean - Rhodium is not plated very thick.

How do you know that the pen kits you buy from china that are supposed to be plated with rhodium are really rhodium????

This takes either trust or testing. Most of us have to use trust as testing is outside our budgets. Actually that is true regardless of where it is plated.

How do you tell the difference?? I can't. How do you know that some kits that are suposed to be rhodium, are not just some type of chrome, or nickel alloy?

Again... Most of us can't. And your original question - could it be over-rated.... The answer is IT DEPENDS. If you can prove or trust your supplier, and the extra cost of the rhodium over chrome gives you an advantage for what you do, and you have customers that care... Then is probably NOT overrated. If you have a chrome side by side with a rhodium and your customer/buyer/family/friend picks one over the other based on the REST of the pen, not the plating - then yep its probably overrated.

Good analysis Dean, I added a couple small comments above in blue.
It is true that most of us can't tell the difference...even if comparing Chrome and Rhodium side-by-side. I can see a small difference between Rhodium and Chrome on the kits I have but can't tell Rhodium from Chrome if a pen is lying on the desk.
 
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