wanted to pass along some info.
say you have something steel that you want chromed, emblem, brake line, manifold etc. first try to buff it out and clear coat it.
you'll need:
1.either a drill, grinder, or bench grinder
2. cloth buffing wheels
3. jewelers roughe - this comes in sticks in 3 grades, rough, medium, and fine. I have never used the liquid kind, like Mother's. In my opionin it is just the sticks, ground up with some other stuff like lighter fluid. buy the real deal. Not to mention its cheaper, the money you will save will allow you to buy more sticks, of different grades.
In a nut shell, polishing is like sanding. I used to own a semi and polished it myself. Its almost fool proof. If you buy the wrong grade polish, it is like buying the wrong grade sandpaper. too rough and it will never be fine enough, too fine and you will spend too much time and burn too many wheels to get the job done. And its a win-win. Once you polish your metal you may like it enough not to have it chromed..... if you still want it chromed, you have already done half of the chromers work for him as they must polish the metal before it is chromed; he shouldn't charge you AS much. Also, if you are religious with it, you can skip the clear coating and cover your bare metal with WD-40 every so often to stop rust.
The wheels and polish (roughe) are avaliable in some auto-parts and most truck-stops. It is really easy to polish your metal to shiny. Once you have done this clear coat it and your good to go. It might not shine as well as chrome, or last as long, but for the price & effort, you can't beat it!
the cloth wheels are available in round wheels and small cones to fit in a drill, these allow you to get into tight corners. I recommed getting both.
