The problem with re-chroming a fork is that if the fork is very rusty, they will "pickle" it first which means immersing it in an acid that eats away at the rust. Unfortunately, this acid is general-purpose and can sometimes get carried away and eat into the original metal. So it must be monitored carefully.
Then, they will wire up the fork and immerse it into a tank and "de-plate" the fork. Again, this process has to be carefully monitored because if you deplate for too long, or if you do not get good uniform electrical coverage throughout the fork, you can get some areas "etched" into the unchromed metal. Etching will require more polishing. Moreover, deplating will cause sharp surfaces (such as those edges on your MASI fork) to soften because de-plating attacks the exposed convex areas first.
In any event, some of the reynolds metal will be lost during deplating, in order to assure good adhesion for the next 2-5 layers. Cost of pickling and de-plating is cheap, maybe $10 - $20.
Once de-plating is done, the polisher will get started. The polisher is either the chrome shop or an artisan such as joe bell or brian baylis. The polisher typically spends 1-2 hours to polish the fork to a mirror finish and evaluate whether the pitting is too deep for normal nickel / chromium layering. Polishing is a dangerous job. If the chrome pitting is very deep, as on a raleigh fork I had rechromed by cyclart, they might do a 5-layer chroming - copper, lead (filler for pits), copper, nickel, chrome.
After the final chrome layer is put down, the fork will be buffed to remove "bluing" and other chroming salts.
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If your fork has just a few pits I recommend re-doing those pits with some sand paper and a brush chroming set. With some practice you can get a pretty invisible repair without the trauma of rechroming.
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Does anyone know of a fork that has survived 3 chromings and 2 strippings (original factory chrome plus two strip/rechromes) ?? Is that fork still usable ??
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA