[Grady Clay]

John,

Where plated, your original hardware was cad plated with no chromate conversion (that started in ’68). The change to zinc was in the mid-late ‘70s.

A couple of days ago Tom Scott (356 Manhattan winner) and I were looking over some hardware he has just had cad plated. Neither of us were happy with the finish. The prep didn’t get in the spaces in the lettering and at the root of the threads. It was also too shiny, a problem we think can be rectified by having them in some appropriate environment. We are considering pure oxygen and 100% RH at 150F. The goal is to have them appear 50-year old original as undisturbed they have a darker “fuzzy” patina.

For environmental reasons, non-original zinc is better.

“Anal retentive? Moi?”
Not at all.

Best,
Grady