Throwing in the towel on Black Chrome

Over the last year I've tried unsuccessfully to get Black Chrome cup sets back in stock. Batch after batch of cups were Black Chrome plated and subsequently had to be chrome stripped, re-polished, and re-plated - only to find that the results were AGAIN less than desirable. It's literally been a 12-month struggle.

So... it's disappointing, but the finish is being retired. I'm not insane enough to keep throwing away money at a process that I just can't get right anymore. 

Last week the last attempt at Black Chrome plating finally killed the finish (with a brand-new Black Chrome tank and brand-new solution!), I ended up with about 12 sets that were flawless - or close enough to flawless - and those are now included in the inventory, but the majority of the cups that were Black Chrome plated in this batch were NOT good enough. 

So... that's the end of it. Once the available sets are gone, they are gone forever. IF you ever wanted a set of cups in Black Chrome - the available sets are your last chance to get one. Here's a link that searches for BLACK CHROME

Trying something NEW!

So... Black Nickel. I'm experimenting with a Black Nickel finish that looks promising. It's a new process, is NOT Chromium plated, and works via an electroless plating process: just like the Bright Nickel plating that I have now. Bright Nickel plating is a great process - it plates the interior of cups perfectly - something that is much more difficult to do with electroplating. This means, IF Black Nickel works successfully, then the outside AND THE INSIDE of the cups would be BLACK. That's interesting... 

I hope this new process LOOKS GOOD - I'm waiting on my first samples right now: I sent away a set of Gazzo Cups to a shop that does Black Nickel and I'm really looking forward to seeing if the finish is good enough for Rings-N-Things. If it is, then we are setting up the process in my local plate shop (a terrific shop that does almost all my plating and polishing work) and putting it to work.

I'll keep you posted!

Donnie Buckley