Vintage Graflex—Restoring the Correct Finish

Quick question... I keep seeing the term "re-chromed" but I was under the impression (from what a friend of mine told me) that vintage Graflex flash units were nickel plated with no chrome at all. Which is it? Please let me know. Thanks.
 
Quick question... I keep seeing the term "re-chromed" but I was under the impression (from what a friend of mine told me) that vintage Graflex flash units were nickel plated with no chrome at all. Which is it? Please let me know. Thanks.

It's nickel plated

Not as straightforward as we used to think. This is from the excellent "Graflex Variations: Facts and vs. Replica thread":

Had to reply on this one, my dad has worked on the metal industry for more than 30 years, on different kinds of plating and patina finishes, and back when I was a teen with my first Graflex he immediately told me it was chromed, you can tell by certain lighting condition it has a blue like finish, but definitely nickel goes before the chrome.

That's what I thought as well. Nickel is far more yellow-ish.

Roy

Roy's clamp band wraps are nickel plated, as well as his ROTJ V2 levers, and you can easily see the yellower tinge as compared to a machined aluminum saber or a Graflex body. As such, many have now changed their minds and indeed concluded that the sabers are chromed (over-nickel) plated, but slightly brushed to give the final satin finish.

That said, Jeff Parks has said that while his functional (and no longer produced) replicas were chrome plated, the originals were nickel-plated only.

So it would appear that absent a definitive metallurgical analysis, there are currently two opinions on this...
 
Ah, so it's like the the whole "screws vs. rivets on the grips" thing for the TFA Graflex. Thanks for the info guys.

I will say this, everything that I know for sure has been nickel plated, always had that yellowish tint to it and a Graflex does not have a yellowish tint to it.
 
The thing about nickel plating is that typically other chemical "brighteners" are added into the plating bath which gives the finish a much less yellow than is typical with straight nickel plating. The Graflexes have zero chance of being 100% nickel plated only. I'm not claiming they were chrome plated, but for sure they had brighteners added.
 
So I bought a vintage 4-cell off Ebay a couple months back and am ready to convert it to a TFA Rey saber. This seller has sold several vintage Graflexes on Ebay in recent months, and as many have noted in other threads some of these flash units have been rather (too) heavily buffed to remove age/corrosion, to the point that some edges are rounded and minor details are lost. I think I got a pretty good deal, so I'm ok with that. You can also see in the pics below that the clamp had some corrosion/pitting that looks to have been sanded and then painted with silver paint to reduce its appearance.

But now I'd like to get the finish back to what a vintage Graflex should look like. To my eye, it appears the saber body has been sanded with about 320 grit paper, way too heavy. I've seen someone mention in another thread that sanding the body to a 1200 finish best replicates the original satin finish.

If someone could help me with the following questions, I would really appreciate it.



1. What grit sandpaper or steel wool will get this back to its proper sheen?
2. What is the black assembly inside called? Mine has a front lip that is chipped away, and I may want to replace this. That said, I don't see how to remove it without removing the clamp and bunny ears, destroying the original rivet...Suggestions?
3. The glass eye metal surround is intact, but the clear bubble is gone. Is there a modern replacement for just the clear bubble? I've thought of just cutting down the clear dome of a vending machine toy container and siliconing it in...

Dude with how rough it was sanded to leave it like it is any more sanding to get it polished will get you to the core metal, I only use 2000 grit sandpaper on the original finish to remove some light scratches, I tried 1000 grit but it was starting to remove the shine. you can start with the outer parts that will be covered with the clamp to test. I have tried fixing damaged graflex flashes and realized I rather not mess with one, though leaving it better than before is possible it's a risk trying to get it pefect, rather get a pristine condition one or settling for the best you can get.

You can remove the bunny ear rivet but it will make it useless, several modifications would have to be made to accommodate a hex head screw or flat head to replace the original. I like the hex head in the new Parks V2.0 Graflex replicas, but I don't know how easy it will be to get one in the exact measurements as the rivet.

And about if it's nickel or chrome finish on the vintage flashes, you are right, only a chemical test would tell the truth, but I settle for what my that told me with his experience, also I did took a top body to re-chrome once to a chroming factory, after I removed the beer-tab and was left with some scratches, they told me it was going to be a difficult job since they had to acid it to remove the original plating and it would not look the same, I took the risk, the finish definitely was not exact, but they did a very good job, I don't have any pictures though since that was back in 2006, sold it on ebay.
 
I have examined three vintage Graflex hilts with a handheld X-Ray spectrometer. Obtaining exact measurements is a bit difficult. But it's clear than the cell tube and upper body are composed of a copper-nickel-zinc alloy similar to nickel silver, only heavy on the nickel. A consistent 2% trace of chromium implies that the tubes are chrome plated. Likely with a nickel undercoating applied to improve adhesion.

The clamps are made of something different. Vintage clamps appear to be composed of an iron-nickel alloy similar to Ni-Resist5, or perhaps Elinvar; again, with a 3-4% trace of chromium consistent with a plating over the base material.

Not sure what the common reproductions are made of. I have one cell bottom that looked to be some sort of stainless steel.

So, if you sand a vintage Graflex too aggressively, you will find yourself into the base material. Do this to a clamp, and you might end up with a part that is prone to surface rust.

The clamps can also become fouled by battery acid leaking from old batteries left in the flash handle for too long. This doesn't seem to affect the nickel silver tubes much. But it can cause significant corrosion damage to the iron component of the niResist clamp. Damage is usually confined to the inside circumference, but can penetrate a significant distance into the cross section of the material. It may, in some cases, help contribute to the localized loss of chrome plating sometimes seen on clamps whose external surfaces appear to be clean and free of corrosion otherwise.

JOE
 
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