In 1975 I spent about an hour, every night, polishing an old Gitane TdF frame. I started with 120 grit sandpaper, all over the frame, and worked my way to 300. The main tubes were easy to clean up because there was easy access.
Most of the time was spent polishing the lugs and the area around the shorelines. Lots and lots of time. The bottom bracket and surroundings were particularly rough.
Every once in a while I visited the plater, who was a friend of the family, to get advice. He would point out areas that needed more attention.
This polishing project took almost a year (so I was constantly removing light rust on the bare metal). The plater insisted that I remove or drastically reduce all irregularities as they are highlighted by the plating process.
When I finally gave up, as the work was endless, I took it to him for plating. He did a "hard chrome" plate: Copper, Nickle, Chrome with extensive machine polishing between each plate.
The results were great. But my TdF was still a PoS frame.
Last year when a friend wanted to chrome his Battaglin I strongly recommended against it. I told him that noone could do a good job economically. I was wrong. He took it to a friend of his family who was in the business and got it back within a week. The platers knew what they were doing and must have had expert polishers on staff. All the tubes came back smooth and clean and the lugs and shorelines were much better than my TdFs.
Moral of the story: Know your plater.
Amir Avitzur Ramat-Gan, Israel
BTW: The guy who plated my TdF died from cancer.
Most of the guys in the plating facility where I once worked
eventually got very sick.
That facility was eventually closed and declared a hazardous waste
site.
Its in the center of town on prime real-estate ... but noone can
build there as waste treatment is too expensive.
Plating is a nasty business.