I have a handful of plated nuts and bolts (I assume zinc) that are yellowish/gold in color that are kind of tarnished/dull looking. I'd like to try and get them looking bright again. Is there something I can soak them in that will brighten them out without damaging the plating?
The way your yellowish/gold parts were originally processed was (1) zinc plate, (2) brief dip in 5% muratic acid and (3) dip in yellow sodium dichromate solution. If the zinc plating is still intact, all you have to do is repeat steps (2) and (3) to get back to the exact original appearance. Muratic acid is cheap and readily available. 1/4 lb of powdered sodium dichromate is about 14 bucks delivered from eBay.
Follow the steps written up in forbbodiesonly
here except skip the zinc plating. But DIY zinc plating is relatively easy. I sell pure zinc on eBay for zinc plating.
You could prep the parts by degreasing and hand wire brushing while wearing rubber or nitrile gloves to avoid any fingerprints. Degrease again and rinse after wire brushing. Power wire brushing could be too harsh on the zinc plating.
A good video is
here.
