Anyone know what this finish might be?

[credx2]

A couple of decades ago I took a beautiful Hipower off a bad guy. It had what looked like a nickel finish but with a hint of gold to it. It had beautiful wood grips that really complemented the metal finish color. It wasn't an over the top pimp gun, the gold or yellow coloring was subtle as were the color and design of the grips. That guns was truly extraordinary. Of course it eventually got sawed in half or melted down. Anyone know what the finish might have been? I might like to recreate that gun someday. Does nickel take on a yellow patina or oxidation over time? The metal was bright, not tarnished looking and tough or thick not like electro plating. Never seen anything like it before or since.

 

[Skans]

A bad nickel (or chrome) job can have a yellow tinge to it. Copper is used as a base for applying nickel - basically, the gun is polished, then copper plated then nickel plated. If the nickel plating is thin it or not applied correctly, it could have a slightly yellowish color. However, if it was obviously intended to be a goldish color, then my guess would be some kind of titanium finish. It could be yellow zinc plating.

 

[Unclenick]

This has been under discussion in another thread. One of the fellows pointed out he had stripped a lot of nickel guns, but not found any copper yet. I know from an old book on shop plating I have that a copper flash or even a heavy copper coat for filling scratches before buffing were common electroplating practices (may still be, but my book is old, remember). A lot of the modern nickel guns, however, are not electroplated, but rather have electroless nickel finishes. These are created by a chemical reduction reaction between the steel and the electroless plating solution, so no copper is involved.

Nickel is naturally slightly yellower and less white than, say, polished silver. If you caught it in the right light, the slight yellow might have been exaggerated. If it was an expensive pimp gun, though, there are a number of colored golds and "white" golds of various colors that he could have had it plated with.