Building restoration specialists bring historic buildings back to their former splendor. Part of this process includes restoring old bronze fixtures. In most restoration settings, you should use the original fixtures or fixtures from the same period. If those fixtures aren't available, you need to have a way to make current fixtures look antique. Bronze plating is one way you can accomplish this.

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy. The base metal is almost always copper mixed with tin. Other metals might be added in, like zinc or nickel. The additions of those other metals change the properties of the metal. The metal is more machinable, stiff, or hard depending on what additional metals are in the mix, and the total percentage of the additional metals of the entire mixture.

Bronze Plating

Bronze plating is an electroplating process. The process uses electricity to create a thin layer of the plating material over the item. While not all metals can be used as an electroplating material, bronze is one metal that can, as are metals like, gold, silver, and brass. Most metals have no problem with being electroplated, either for looks, protection of the piece, or restoration of the piece.

Electroplating Process

The process of electroplating metals is fairly simple. It is also relatively quick, depending on how thick you need the bronze layer to be. If you just need a hint of bronze on your piece, it only needs a few minutes. However, if your workpiece needs a good heavy layer of bronze, it may take an hour or more to get the correct layer thickness put into place.

Preparing the Electroplating Solution

The first step of the process is to prepare the electroplating solution. It is usually some kind of mild acid with some form of the metal dissolved into it. In the case of bronze plating, something like bronze salts is added to the solution.

Placing the Workpiece

The next step of the process is to suspend the piece in the electroplating solution. The piece needs to be completely covered in the solution, but you don't want it to touch the sides or bottom of the solution's container. That can cause a spot to get not covered as well. The piece to be plated is usually hung from a rod, using a wire of some sort.

Starting the Plating

Once the piece solution has been prepared and the piece suspended in the solution, it's time to do the actual plating. An electrode made out of the plating material is placed in the solution. In this case, it would be a bronze electrode. Then a charge is applied to the electrode and the solution. That causes bronze to migrate from the electrode to the workpiece so that the piece is plated.

Electroplating Plastic

That process only works if the piece to plated is metal. Plastic can be bronze plated, but it is a much longer and more time-consuming process. One part of that process includes creating small pits in the plastic. Once the material has pits in it, metal goes into those pits. Then the plastic piece can be placed in an electroplating solution and plated.

If you are a building restoration specialist or just restoring your own property, you need fixtures that fit into your house's historical period. Come see us at General Brite Plating to get your fixtures plated or re-plated. We will make sure that you get the finish you need on your fixture, whether it's a nice, shiny bronze finish, an antiqued finish, or an oil-rubbed finish. Contact us today to learn more about this process.