I have a number of brass instruments that are nickel plated. Nickel plating is great because it doesn’t tarnish and it doesn’t tend to corrode, so it always looks shiny. It was super popular until about 50 years ago. A few players are allergic to it, which is probably why it’s been replaced by silver plating over the years.

I do this a bunch at home, my setup has also migrated to work. Simple solution made with vinegar, salt and sodium laurel sulphate, then a couple of cheap nickel electrodes. Run current through both to make the nickel acetate, then you're good to go.

This handbook is thorough, but not of much use to any novice just looking to do some nickel plating. It's not hard to do though, and certainly something you can do at home. I've done this for a set of custom steel brackets I needed for some project¹.

This Youtube video is useful if you want to start from scratch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-PtnwtOR24

1: I could have used stainless steel instead, but bending, drilling, and tapping stainless steel is a lot harder than doing this with regular steel.

Is it true that nickel plating is less expensive than chrome plating, but chrome is more durable? Is that the trade off?

I like the idea of adding extra anode wires to within cavities to get better coverage that this document suggests.

My favorite type of nickel plating for home scale is nickel acetate. It can be as simple as a 6v lantern battery, a nickel guitar string, and some vinegar (though guitar wires make terrible electroplating electrodes since they break and fall (something this document says can be mitigating by using a titanium basket)).

Would using Nickel plated copper wire help prevent galvanic corrosion of carbon steel when grounding a fence using copper wire? Or would the copper coated with Nickel still act as a cathode making the fence anode??

Is there any equivalent for electroless nickel plating ?