If you are worried about filling pits, then shell out for a Copper plating kit and buy the extra Stainless Steel wand and the Copy Chrome Solution, your total cost should be $50 and you can do 2 layers : Copper first, then Copy-Chrome (a nickel-cobalt solution which looks white, like real chrome.)
I have had some luck with the caswell copy chrome plating kit. I have done several bolts (GB M8x1.00 stem pinch, Campy SR Seatpost), portions of a Raleigh bicycle frame, and some nuts for campagnolo brake calipers, as described in this article I wrote :
http://www.ece.ubc.ca/
- Don Gillies
San Diego, CA, USA