Shiny silver coatings

[chunkolini]

Shiny shiny silver.
I have two customers asking me about making them big shiny fish like this. One has asked for stainless steel; Which I think would be a disaster on the head with all the welding involved. I also dont like using stainless. The fish in the photo was cupbrushed mild steel. A lovely finish.
I am having a commission done with a 'spray chrome finish' which is costing my customer a fortune. Can anybody reccomend a finish that will work. Not needing to give a chrome look just a bright silver finish.
And a company I can trust to do it.
I have seen a motorbike done in a chrome finish powder coating that looked ideal.

 

[bump]

RPA Engineering on Queen Victoria Street, Bristol are the guys you need. They do a lot of custom bikes and campers.

 

[lexi]

Did you find that the oil you used on polished mild steel kept rust at bay?

 

[chunkolini]

Indoors it works a treat, Jade Oil especially if you leave it sat on a radiator for a day or two. I have used it on the mild steel frames for my shelves for years and on any indoor sculptures.
bump, that looks like a start but they dont list a 'chrome finish' I have seen a custom bike with a powder coat/chrome finish on the swing arm and it looked perfect More like a lightly polished aluminium.
I am not after cheap (well not too expensive) people will have to pay for it. I want quality.

 

[Maker]

Couldn't you just use a metallic/shiny spray paint?

 

[gordon stephenson]

Hi Chunko, Love the fish. Not sure about silver powder coat, I think the commercial type finish will detract from the true artistic look,

 

[bump]

I'd give them a call, in typical traditional small business style a fully fledged website is low down on the list.

They did a chrome powder coat on a relatives wheels a few years back.

 

[scott0031]

I have no idea if this is a gimmick or not or other alternatives are already out there. A friend of mine was looking into doing this, if its any good see if anyone in the uk is already set up with this kit. It might be useful to you. It certainly looks darn pretty.


http://www.sprayonchrome.com/index2.html



Kind regards,


Scott

Edit: if you go to the gallery, then top right thumbnail(Skull thing) in there its covers some sculptures. Its pretty impressive if its as good as they make it look.

 

[Gareth J]

I've used the cheap(er) chrome in a can before. Comes out more like shiny silver. However, the finish is a bit delicate so it think it would struggle outdoors. Powder coating should be sturdy but check the size of the company you enquire with's oven.

I can see why the customer enquired about stainless. I think it would look good and have a good chance of staying looking good. I can also understand why you'd rather not!

 

[rtcosic]

Um, can I have a daft question amnesty?

Have you shown your customers what hot dip galvanized steel looks like???

 

[Gareth J]

Have you shown your customers what hot dip galvanized steel looks like???

Outdoors after a year? Dull grey at best and with white patches if near the sea. Not shiny

 

[Kent]

Indoor use you get forged and hot rolled steel looking good with a wire cup brush to remove all the black then give it a coat of hot clear bees wax, if that's of interest. Could give an indoor fish a real nice effect. Letting it rust a while first then striking it off with the same wire cup brush might give plate a better fishy finish before the hot wax bar and the black comes off so much easier its not required.

 

[Kent]

Might clear coat spray work as above for outdoors? not so sure

 

[chunkolini]

Galvanized is not shiny enough for them. They want shiny shiny.
Clear coat ? I had wondered about this but from what I gather is goes yellowy over time.
Metallic spray paint? If I did it would look awful and would go flaky.
I would want a professional job doing.
Bump I will give your guys a ring.

 

[Gareth J]

Clearcoat outdoors won't last. The steel needs to be etched/keyed to carry its top coating. Either with etch primer in paint coatings or sandblasting with powdercoat. Laquer will flake off polished steel left outside very quickly.

Don't rule out paint systems, done well, they can be very robust and produce an excellent finish. A car has a much harder life than your sculpture will and we expect the paint to last many years. With the intricate nature of the sculpture though, I recon powdercoat is the way to go.... Or stainless

 

[SmartWerks]

That's not true, proper chrome gets tinted clear powder applied to them all the time and the chrome obviously isn't blasted for profile.

a chrome powder with a clear would give you the shiny silver. Chrome powder has to be cleared due to its mettalic content. I would suggest a protective primer as well. You might want to look at a coating shop that does more custom work, I wouldn't recommend a production shop. If you are in south wales look up Jeff at blastcoat

 

[chunkolini]

I am in touch with the guys who are doing my shoe, they use 2k primer rub down etc etc and charge for it, but it looks like they do a good job.
I would use a custom shop not just a production place.
Not in South Wales yet hopefully in a few weeks, smartwerks, just checked out their site that has been saved into favourites.

 

[Gareth J]

That's not true, proper chrome gets tinted clear powder applied to them all the time and the chrome obviously isn't blasted for profile.

a chrome powder with a clear would give you the shiny silver. Chrome powder has to be cleared due to its mettalic content. I would suggest a protective primer as well. You might want to look at a coating shop that does more custom work, I wouldn't recommend a production shop. If you are in south wales look up Jeff at blastcoat

Fair enough, I stand corrected!

 

[Maker]

I assume I'm missing something obvious but why don't you want to make a stainless one? It seems like the best option to me.

 

[roofman]

Galvanized is not shiny enough for them. They want shiny shiny.
Clear coat ? I had wondered about this but from what I gather is goes yellowy over time.
Metallic spray paint? If I did it would look awful and would go flaky.
I would want a professional job doing.
Bump I will give your guys a ring.

well tell them to get there hands in the pockets and get it chromed