Nickel Plating removal Help!

[Flying10uk]

The bayonet and nose piece have been plated but most of it is gone leaving sort of a patina not blue not rust.

Why not see if the remaining nickel will come off with the careful application of a buffing wheel, and coarse polish, applied lightly and or a rotary wire brush. The chances are, by your description, that the nickel wasn't applied very well in the first place and may well come off quite easily, with a little encouragement.

A while ago I had a 1907 bayonet that had some nickel plating left on it that I wanted to remove and it came off quite easily with a rotary wire brush.

Obviously, if the above are attempted then appropriate personal protective equipment should be worn, including suitable safety goggles/eye protection and a suitable dust mask.

[usabaker]

Depending on the croming quality Vinegar will remove crome, also will remove bluing.

[HOOKED ON HISTORY]

I have had some success (after photos to follow) phosphoric acid got most of the nickel off
with the addition of brass brushes and buffing wheel. I have only tried the process on the smaller parts not the barreled action which oddly only shows plating below the wood line.
The photo depicting the rear sight shows the transition between the nickel and what I am calling patina.

[Aragorn243]

That all seems rather weird. Who would plate something and then use it so much that the plating would wear off of it like that?

[Patrick Chadwick]

Agreed. It is very odd. Especially as the tang of the trigger guard is exactly where one would expect heavy wear from rubbing by dirty fingers. Unlike the magazine plate, which is hardly touched by the hand in normal use, but in this case is corroded, even slightly pitted.

So I don't think the plating was applied overall, and then wore off in this somewhat unlikely fashion. Instead, I rather suspect that Bubba partially plated the badly corroded areas after buffing them. A fudge, in other words.

If there is a more plausible explanation, someone please enlighten me!

[rcathey]

Perhaps it was plated for color guard use at a VFW or some other veterans organization.

[Aragorn243]

I have to disagree with the magazine plate not being touched by normal use. My 99 Savage that I hunt with only has wear on the area which corresponds to the magazine plate on this Arisaka. It is the normal carry place on the rifle when going through the woods unslinged. It's the balance point of the rifle one handed. In combat, probably not as likely to be carried that way but it is common in woods hunting. Most of the bluing is gone on the underside of the receiver after 20 years of hunting with it. 30 now but that's when I noticed the finish loss being significant.

I can't see a color guard of a VFW or similar organization using the rifle of their enemy for anything other than a war prize.

[browningautorifle]

Perhaps it was plated for color guard use at a VFW

It's a Jap Arisaka...what VFW?

[rcathey]

It's a Jap Arisaka...what VFW?

You’d be surprised. They did some funny things in the more cash strapped communities. A quick google search even found an example:
http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/301091-vfw-arisaka/

[browningautorifle]

You’d be surprised.

Seen...