How hard is it to refinish the chrome castings on a Gold Crown?

NYCnoob99

Registered
I want to refinish them to copper - the metal castings at the pockets and on the round feet.

Can I do this myself? Does it require taking apart the entire table to do it or can it be done while the table is still assembled? Would you recommend a pro?
 

rexus31

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I want to refinish them to copper - the metal castings at the pockets and on the round feet.

Can I do this myself? Does it require taking apart the entire table to do it or can it be done while the table is still assembled? Would you recommend a pro?

Which Gold Crown? It is ideal to remove them. They are plated from the factory so if you try to buff them you will most likely removed the finish. It's best to re-plate.
 

NYCnoob99

Registered
Which Gold Crown? It is ideal to remove them. They are plated from the factory so if you try to buff them you will most likely removed the finish. It's best to re-plate.

Haven't bought it yet but likely a 3 or 4. Several on market but come with the standard silver chrome. Hard to remove the feet without taking apart table. Seems like a tough job.
 

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Haven't bought it yet but likely a 3 or 4. Several on market but come with the standard silver chrome. Hard to remove the feet without taking apart table. Seems like a tough job.
I may misremember but I think the GC3s I played on around here came with a bronzish finish for the pockets. They certainly were not chrome plated.
 

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've never done it myself, but have read many threads on here over the years of others who have refinished the castings on the various GC models. Some people sand blasted them, some spray painted them, some took them to metal plating shops, some people powder coated them, some people spent days polishing them, etc etc. The short answer is its a real tough job to do it.
 

pocket

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've never done it myself, but have read many threads on here over the years of others who have refinished the castings on the various GC models. Some people sand blasted them, some spray painted them, some took them to metal plating shops, some people powder coated them, some people spent days polishing them, etc etc. The short answer is its a real tough job to do it.

I can tell you from personal experience that powder coating can be a pain. Something about the way the castings 'outgas' when heated in the powder coating process. Mine came out nice, but it took several attempts by the vendor.
 

iusedtoberich

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The bronze colored corners always became beat to hell in a commercial environment. Does anyone know if the same happened to the dull silver and shinny silver castings, that seem to be quite rare?
 

SBC

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Seen some good results with textured metal spray paints. Good enough for home use.
 

Type79

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
How hard is it to remove the pocket castings and put them back? Is that a professional-grade job or straight forward?

When you move the table, you have to remove the rails anyway, so that is the time you would refinish the pocket castings. The feet just unscrew from the pedestals, so those would be done together with the pocket castings.

All of your finish choices have been mentioned above. It's really a matter of personal taste whether you want them original/anodized/chrome/bronze or painted/powder-coated.
 
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Lawnboy77

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If you really want chrome plating for those pocket castings contact these guys in the link below. They have done some chrome plating on my 1960s mower restoration projects and they do outstanding work. It is pricey though, a typical Lawn-Boy handle would run me about 350 bucks, so I would think 6 pocket castings would be a similar cost.

https://paulschrome.com
 

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If I remember it right there was also a choice between gloss black and a matte black too. The shinny black and chrome model like you posted is my favorite!:grin:
IIRC the matte black came out on the 4's. The Kimball piano finish models are awesome. Hard to keep clean tho.
 
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