Plating Sources

[Texatdurango]

I have decided on a clip I want to use on most of my pens and being nickel plated, it matches pretty well with many other parts I already use.

Currently I am making parts from sterling silver, stainless steel and titanium and would also like to offer gold parts but since it would be insane to use solid gold, I am looking at plating the parts I already have.

I looked into gold and silver plating several months ago and sent out samples to different companies to be plated. This exercise was just a disaster, one was outrageously priced for mediocre work, another did very poor work and the third lost my samples. Of all the plated samples returned to me, none were suitable to put on a pen for sale.

So here is my question..........

Can anyone recommend a company or individual that can gold plate pen clips in small lots of say 50 or 100 clips?

I would really like to have specifics rather than..."there's a place in New Jersey a friend of a friend used to use"

If anyone would care to share who they are currently using I would appreciate it, and a contact name and phone number or email address would be great!

Thanks

 

[ed4copies]

Well, George, we have most of Dawn's stained glass items gold plated after they are finished (covering the lead came). We've had many platers over the years and sent samples to many more. This past year, our current one went out of business. Of course you know gold also went from $600ish to $1000ish per ounce.

My point?? Finding a plater has always been a pain in the a$$. NOW, it will be worse. Good luck, I used to call them on the phone first, cause we were "small potatoes" with our ten grand a year.

You're looking for a REAL specialty house. With EPA regs, it ain't gonna be easy.

(Just a few words of encouragement!!)

 

[bitshird]

George have you tried Red Sky Plating in Albuquerque? http://www.redskyplating.com/ I haven't used them in a while, but they used to be one of the better companies around.

 

[DurocShark]

When I worked for my friend's dad almost 20 years ago, we plated our own stuff. He supplied dental labs, so many of the tools, mixers, and such had to be gold plated. Electroplating gold was easy and not too terribly expensive. Probably more than a commercial shop, but having control over the process and quality is nice.

A good inexpensive option is this:
http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/gldbrshsys.html

I've no idea about the durability in a pen, but a friend used that on his grill and emblems on his car and it came out sweet.

 

[Texatdurango]

George have you tried Red Sky Plating in Albuquerque? http://www.redskyplating.com/ I haven't used them in a while, but they used to be one of the better companies around.

Ken, Sounds promising, I'll call them monday morning!

Ed, thanks for words of encouragement!

 

[Texatdurango]

When I worked for my friend's dad almost 20 years ago, we plated our own stuff. He supplied dental labs, so many of the tools, mixers, and such had to be gold plated. Electroplating gold was easy and not too terribly expensive. Probably more than a commercial shop, but having control over the process and quality is nice.

A good inexpensive option is this:
http://www.caswellplating.com/kits/gldbrshsys.html

I've no idea about the durability in a pen, but a friend used that on his grill and emblems on his car and it came out sweet.

Don, I buy all my buffing supplies from Caswell and have seen this plating setup but to be honest I am not wanting to do it myself. Seems like every time something comes along I end up buying a bunch of supplies and do whatever it is myself and I now officially have 832 hobbies! :biggrin:

 

[DurocShark]

So you're like me, your hobby is collecting hobbies!

 

[ed4copies]

I think I recall some saying about "Jack of all trades, master of................................" The rest fades into my normal mental oblivion.

 

[Dan_F]

George---Might check out the names listed in this thread: http://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=126423

Dan

 

[Russianwolf]

George,
With what we know of the gold platings, I'm wondering if this is going to be worth the effort. We've seen every supplier's gold plated part wears fairly quick on a pen. Just a thought.

 

[avbill]

George Search for a jeweler. They have to do plating all the time. in small quantities.