Re: Chrome

[Alan Lambert <gerard@xxxxxxx>]

RIGHT!--you pacify a kid, or a girl-friend------Passivate is what you do 
to metals!

Oh, well, I meant well!!




On Tue, 1 Dec 1998 JHertzman@domain.elided wrote:

> In AD7-295 Norm asks whether anyone else has input on chrome making steel
> brittle. I am not a metallurgist, but I have heard for decades that "hydrogen
> embrittlement" is a consequence of chrome plating. The "chromed" wires on Alfa
> 1900 road cars I believe had polished alloy rims and stainless steel spokes on
> plated steel hubs; the hubs are pretty meaty compared to the rims, and in any
> case I would bet that the true "Corsa" versions of those same cars would have
> had painted wheels. 
> 
> Alan Lambert (in AD7-292) said "Be careful--use only a chroming outfit that
> knows about pacifying." I have heard references to "passivating", perhaps the
> same thing; my non-technical desk-dictionary includes some metallurgical
> subdefinitions under 'passive'.
> 
> Leafing around various books and after crawling around various museums my
> impression is that wire wheels on Alfa sporting and competition cars were
> invariably painted, with the exception of a very few well-known "restored"
> examples seen at places like Monterey. 
> 
> Parenthetically, Bugattis often had suspension parts which casual observers
> assumed were plated, but they were not, at least in properly maintained
> examples; they were unpainted polished steel. Legend has it that the Chairman
> of the B.O.C., who used his car regularly on weekends, employed a local youth
> to wipe the undercarriage with soft cloths from one Sunday to the next
> Saturday, full-time, with no other duties.
> 
> Cordially,
> 
> John H., who dechromed his Giulietta in 1964, discarding the perfect eyebrows
> and perfect grill- sigh-  
> 
> 

================================================================================
Regards,
Alan G. Lambert___________________________________<gerard@domain.elided>
           *******Los Altos, California (office)*******

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