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Anyone have any experience or knowledge on the easiest way to remove chrome from metal?

My inner windshield trim and window trim (at the top, inside) on the 41 cabriolet project are all chromed. I guess the previous owner thought it would look good. It does but it's not correct.

I now have the Grain-it kit and trying to figure out the best way to handle this part of the project.

Also, just to be sure, these parts were wood-grained pretty much like the dash, right?

Any advice or pointers would be appreciated.

Charlie

I would approach your local plating shop and have them remove the chrome in one of their plating stripping tanks. The chromium stripped off , leaves a toxic waste of "chromium 6" also called hexavalent chromium.

I'll do that.

Thanks,
Charlie

A previous owner had chromed the windshield defroster deflector, some other garnish pieces on the doors and cab of my '54 3104 truck - none was correct. They were pitted and some of the chrome actually pealed off.

I tried electrolysis to clean the pitted places, but my tank was only a couple of feet long. So I brushed on some Ospho, let it work for a while and washed thoroughly. I ground off most of the chrome with an angle grinder, followed by 100g sandpaper on a woodworking sander and by hand. The pieces are fairly flat with gentle edges, so grinding and sanding was easy. If you miss some places, the next step will hide them.

(I didn't think about toxic waste.)

I primed both sides of the garnish with epoxy primer, then sprayed on rattle can sandable primer. Wet sanded / primed / sanded etc. with 400g and 600g wet-dry paper to build up a smooth surface. Start off with the paper on a sanding block to produce a flat surface; finish by holding the paper in your fingers. I painted all pieces the correct interior color.

The result is smooth and has held up well. Although I am pretty gentle with it.

- Lonnie

Waited too long to edit.

To clariy -

I only used a sander on the interior window garnish. I was afraid that I would grind too deeply into the thin metal. I was able to peel much of the chrome off. Then I sanded to solid metal or to firmly attached plating until it was uniformly dull and scuffed. I used the grinder on thicker parts like the cab lower windlace retainer.

- Lonnie

When you do electrolysis on a piece with chrome on it the chrome is removed and added into the solution as chromium ions , and turns the solution yellow. Another thing you should not do it use stainless steel for the electrodes in an electrolysis tank as it also dissolves the chrome in the stainless steel into the solution.

I found out the hard way when I put a stainless steel windshield regulator in a electrolysis tank (to remove a rusted part) and the dang tongue disintegrated over night!

Thanks for adding your experiences here too.