Silver plating

[CasedImage]

With the recent discussions of plating I have added it as a category to the resources section and added the two mentioned. If you would like to recommend the silver plater you use post their details in this topic and I will add them to the resources links.

www.CasedImage.com

[Jon Lewis]

Great idea, here’s the plater I use:

Theta Plate, Inc.

3330 Princeton NE

Albuquerque, NM 87107

Phone: 505-880-1856

Fax: 505-884-2059

http://www.thetaplate.net/

I’ve only gotten one set of plates back so far but they were beautifully plated with an extremely fast turn around time. I’ve emailed Aaron Velasquez several times and he has been very helpful.

[Andy Stockton]

Does anyone else have a plater they recommend?

[Jon Lewis]

I’d recommend the plater I use (Theta Plate posted above) as they’re fast and I haven’t had a problem with the 24 plates I’ve had them plate so far. Though I haven’t really shopped around either and I’m sure you’ll be able to find a good plater that’s closer to you.

[jdanforth]

I have been working with

Surtronics, Inc

Raleigh, NC

http://www.surtronics.com

Mike Breslin, Customer Service Manager

mbreslin@surtronics.com

(919) 834-8027 Ext:227

Very friendly and they’ve been really patient with me over the years.

[Andy Stockton]

Thanks Jonathan – it will be great to have others chime in as well. It is helpful not to have to constantly reinvent the wheel and going to a plater that has already worked with a daguerreotypist should make things much easier.

[jdanforth]

I’m grinning right now because your statement, Andy, is so very true. Mike at Surtronics has told me stories about people calling him and requesting him to “just do what you do for Jonathan Danforth” on their plates. That terrifies me, honestly. I don’t know if what I’m having done is RIGHT but I do know that it WORKS.

[Andy Stockton]

I suppose it could backfire too if the plater had a horrible experience with a daguerreotypist and their “fussy little jobs”. 😆

[Sean Culver]

You can call Coult at Reliable Plating in Chicago, 5 day turnover, good work for me over the years, lots of daguerreotypists use Reliable. They will be doing some for me next week at their new facilities (they had a fire a few years ago and rebuilt.

Coult Greenwell

VP Operations

Reliable Plating

1538 W Lake St

Chicago, IL 60607

Email: coult@reliableplating.com

Phone: 312-421-4747

Fax: 312-421-4599

[macgabhan]

Hey guys,

I am new here – just getting the kit together.

I have been in touch with a plater who tells me that he would need to plate the Copper with zinc before the Silver … is that correct?

Thanks

Dave Smith (UK)

[jdanforth]

Dave that shouldn’t be necessary. Silver can be plated directly onto copper without any problem whatsoever.

[macgabhan]

jd

Thanks for that – I was sure that that was the case!

Dave

[corey r]

I just got my plates back from Thad at Zappfe in Seattle and they look AMAZING! Highly recommend his services. He knows what he’s doing and goes the extra step.

http://www.silverforsale.com/

Corey

[Andy Stockton]

Hi Corey-

Care to share what you had done and some idea of the prices and turn-around?

Thanks in advance.

[corey r]

oh sure, i don’t have a digital camera or scanner at the moment so I can’t send you pictures. I had Thad plate 6 quarter plate pieces of copper with a half mil of silver. We discussed the pros and cons of plating one side or both and decided to go with both. I prepped the copper to a mirror finish mailed it off on a thursday and had it back the following friday. Price per plate (two sided) was $32 plus a small flat-rate environmental fee for the whole order (bigger the order the less the fee ends up being per piece).

As part of his standard practice Thad re-polishes any piece that comes into his shop before plating to take care of any small spots of tarnish, nicks or scratches that may have occurred in shipping. The best part is that after plating he polishes to an extreme mirror finish and I don’t think i’ll need to do much of anything to the plates before sensitizing other than a quick buff to knock of any slight oxidation.

I’ll keep you all posted with my progress. Modified a couple 4×5 film holders into 1/4 plate holders for my view camera earlier this week. Last thing to do is finish the fuming box and wait for a sunny day (Santa Cruz goes through the June gloom and stays overcast for days this time of the year, just in time to disappoint the tourists)

-Corey

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