i also highly doubt he's the first one to do it. aaron is the name of the guy who plated the frames... i know he did it at 'work', but i don't think he works specifically at a plating shop. i think he welds at a machine shop or a job shop. i think it's also more of a chemical reaction, than a plating process. i'll tell him and eric about this thread and see if we can get some direct answers, rather me trying to remember and speculate.