Whats the difference between something that is galvanized and something that is chrome plated?
Good question, and I’ll do my best to make this short. Galvanizing in a process where steel parts are dipped in molten zinc. (Along with several other herbs and spices.) This is commonly used to waterproof steel buckets. Galvanized hardware is usually designed for water resistance, not for looks, as galvanized steel will often have a dull, textured appearance. As for chrome plating, there are actually two different types. The first type is “hard chrome plating” (sometimes called engineering chrome plating) and the second is “decorative chrome plating”. Hard Chrome plating is just chrome plating, but it is applied as a fairly heavy coating (usually measured in thousandths of an inch) for wear resistance, lubricity, oil retention and other wear purposes. Some examples would be hydraulic cylinder rods, rollers, piston rings, thread guides, etc. It is called hard chrome because it is thick enough that when a hardness measurement is performed the chrome hardness can actually be measured. It
