Bright Black Nickel Plating will produce a finish, which is bluish black in color. Black nickel is not a true nickel deposit but an electrolytic coloring process, which produces a black deposit upon the surface of the article. This finish is generally applied over a layer of bright nickel-plating to achieve mirror finish. The item shown in the photograph above is black nickel deposited over bright nickel. The Black nickel plating is also commercial know as Gunmetal and Anthracite plating.

Black nickel plating should be protected with a coating to insure its performance in service. At Spencer & Spencer , we recommend protecting this finish with e-coat. Once protected with our e-coat this finish will provide excellent performance.

When an item is to black nickel-plated it is usually put through a mechanical surface preparation treatment of some kind. This can include a polishing and buffing operation or a mass finishing operation such as tumbling with ceramic stone. Although it is not necessary to prepare the surface in this way it remarkably adds to the appearance of the item to be black nickel-plated. The item in the photograph above was polished prior to being plated and coated with e-coat.