plating service: local or mail?

[nacreoni]

I have a few pieces of silver jewelry (a couple of rings and a couple of pendants) that I''d like to get rhodium electroplated.

While most reputable jewelers should be able to perform this service, I''ve gotten the impression from reading this forum that many jewelers don''t apply plating properly and that a jewelry shop is not the best place to maintain the sensitive chemical bath required for plating. Moreover, I understand that despite the fact that rhodium plated silver is not particularly unusual, plating silver can be somewhat trickier than plating gold.

That being said, does anyone have any recommendations on where I should get my jewelry electroplated? Artisanplating.com has extensive articles on plating that are often quoted in this forum, but I''m somewhat suspicious of their claims that they can do a much better job than any jewelry shop as a result of their superior equipment.

Is it worth the extra time and cost to send out my jewelry to a place like artisanplating.com or am I better off just taking it to a local jewelry shop?

 

[Manmountain]

On a personal level, I feel that rhodium plating silver shouldn''t be done.

When silver is rhodium plated, it is plated with copper, nickle and finally rhodium. This results in a very heavy plate. First, it renders the silver into something that looks more like chrome. Secondly, these extra platings cannot be soldered without blistering. The differences in hardness between the platings on the silver produces a very ugly and virtually impossible to refinish mess when this blistering occurs. Rhodium plating is not done directly on silver, because silver is soluble in the rhodium bath and will contaminate the bath.

If you really want to do it, by all means, shop around for someone. I think that it will be a little difficult to find a local to do it.

 

[nacreoni]

Artisanplating.com claims that they use rhodium plating primarily for silver. They say they use a palladium pre-plate to prevent contamination. Do you have any opinion of artisanplating.com? What they're advertising seems to be exactly what I'm looking for, but I'm too ignorant to tell whether or not they're full of bologna and/or whether or not I'd be better off getting it done elsewhere.

Also, there is actually a local plating solution manufacturer (http://www.cohler.com/rhodiumplating.html) that claims the following of their rhodium plating solution: "nickel plating is not required when rhodium plating over silver for a tarnish-resistant finish." Are they full of it?

Thanks for the info about blistering, but I still think I want to go ahead with the rhodium plating as I don't anticipate that I'll ever need any soldering work done on these pieces. The rings are just plain engraved bands and the pendants are very cheap, but unique designs that I can't find in anything but sterling silver. In both cases I'm just looking for a way to stop tarnishing and I don't mind a chromed looking finish.