Bright Copper
A deep, mirror polished copper finish for lighting, hardware and decorative pieces, sealed with a clear coat so the color stays rich instead of darkening.
Copper plating in Edina for families in the Country Club District, designers and builders working on new homes and remodels, and shops around 50th and France. Our plating shop is in Oceanside, California, so you ship the hardware, we plate it in the copper finish you choose and insure it home.
Creekside streets, kitchens worth showing off.
Edina has some of the oldest planned neighborhoods in the Twin Cities, with 1920s Tudor and colonial homes along Minnehaha Creek. It also has plenty of new construction where older houses came down. Both send us work: original hardware worth saving, and new fixtures that need a copper look the catalog doesn't offer.
If you've never had anything plated, start small. Pick one piece, take a clear photo, and email it with a note on how you'd like it to look. We'll reply with a written quote. Once you approve, you ship it, we do the work, and you see the result before committing the whole house.
Builders and interior designers around Edina send us faucet trim, range hood bands and lighting for kitchens that want a custom copper finish. Homeowners in Morningside and the Country Club District send original door sets. Boutiques and salons near 50th and France send display fixtures and signs.
Tell us what the part is and what you want it to become. Send a few photos and the base metal if you know it, and we will recommend the right copper process, explain the preparation it needs and send back a written quote.
Edina designers often ask for satin copper on kitchen pieces, while Tudor homes look right in antique copper. A few homeowners want bright copper left bare to age naturally.
A deep, mirror polished copper finish for lighting, hardware and decorative pieces, sealed with a clear coat so the color stays rich instead of darkening.
A brushed, low glare copper with a soft grain. It hides fingerprints and light wear, a favorite for door hardware, cabinet pulls and interior trim.
Copper that is darkened and then relieved by hand, so the high points glow while recesses stay deep brown. Ideal for period restorations and rustic designs.
A heavy acid copper layer that is cut and buffed flat before nickel and chrome. It fills pits and polishing marks and is the foundation of every show chrome job.
A thin first layer that locks onto difficult metals like zinc die cast, steel and brass, giving every layer that follows a solid bond.
Functional copper for conductivity, solderability and heat treat masking. Plated to a specified thickness on bus bars, connectors, shafts and gears.
Drag the handle on any photo to see the part as it arrived and as it left the shop in copper.
Before
Worn, spotted brass with decades of tarnish. Stripped, polished and plated in bright copper, then sealed with a clear lacquer so the warm color stays put.
Before
A full set of levers, plates and hinges with peeling plating. Stripped, copper plated and hand antiqued so the raised details stand out against darker recesses.
Before
Pitted metal with failed chrome. Stripped down, built up in heavy acid copper, then cut and buffed flat to create a perfect base for nickel and chrome.
You don't have to live nearby to work with us.
Customers all over the country pack their parts and ship them to our Oceanside shop. We finish them, inspect them and send them back insured. It starts with a few photos.
Copper bonds to more base metals than almost any other plating, but each one still needs the right cleaning and the right first layer.
Cleaned and activated, then given a copper strike before the main copper layer. Rusted or pitted steel is stripped and copper filled until the surface is smooth.
Plate beautifully once cleaned. A common way to give brass lighting, hardware and fixtures a true copper color without replacing the part.
Porous and reactive, so it needs a gentle copper strike before anything else. Pits are copper filled and hand buffed flat, the slow work most shops avoid.
Receives a zincate pretreatment so copper can bond to a surface that would otherwise oxidize instantly. Used for wheels, housings and decorative castings.
Its oxide layer resists bonding, so it gets a nickel strike first. After that it takes copper like any other metal, for a warm look on a durable base.
Solid copper can be replated to restore its surface, and other alloys are reviewed case by case. Send the alloy or a photo and we will confirm before you ship.
The same metal, three different goals. Knowing which one your part needs decides how it is prepared, how thick the copper goes on and how it is finished.
Five clear steps take an Edina order from your first photo to installed hardware.
Show us the part and tell us the finish you want: bright, satin, antique or a base for chrome.
We confirm the base metal and the prep it needs, then send a written quote within 24 business hours.
Pack faucet trim and plumbing parts with their threads wrapped in tape, and box them with plenty of padding. From the southwest suburbs, ground shipping usually takes 3 to 5 business days to reach us.
Old finishes come off, the surface is repaired and polished, then struck and plated in copper.
Parts are buffed, brushed or antiqued, sealed when needed, inspected and shipped back insured.
Every copper finish and copper related service we run in house.
From custom builders to industrial manufacturers, our clients trust us to deliver the same result every time.
Edina work comes from residential builders, interior designers, medical and professional offices, and boutiques and salons in the shopping districts.
Slot machine trim, table rails, bar fixtures and gaming floor accents in bright or antique copper, made to glow under bright lights around the clock. Trusted by casino resorts across North County San Diego.
Pendants, sconces, lamp bases and accessories finished in bright, satin or antique copper.
Door handles, hinges, cabinet pulls and railings given a warm copper finish that matches across a project.
Bar rails, foot rests, tap handles and restaurant fixtures that bring copper warmth to a space.
Bus bars, terminals and connectors plated for conductivity and easy soldering.
Gears, shafts and steel parts selectively copper plated to mask areas during carburizing.
We have been running copper tanks since 1989. Restorers, designers, builders and manufacturers send us parts because the copper work underneath is what makes the finish on top last.
Send a photo of your part and receive a no obligation quote within 24 hours.
Every part leaves our shop backed by our craftsmanship guarantee. If you are not satisfied, we make it right.
A single fixture or a full production run, shipped to us from any state and returned insured.
Most projects are completed within 3 to 5 weeks. Expedited Orders: 5 to 7 business days. Contact us for availability.
Copper shows everything. Every scratch left in the base metal and every shortcut in the prep ends up visible in the finish, so we do not take shortcuts.
Difficult metals get the right first layer before the main copper goes on, so the finish stays bonded and does not peel or blister.
Copper is cut and buffed by hand between stages, which is what gives decorative copper its depth and chrome its flawless base.
Finished copper is inspected for even color, gloss and texture, and matched to your sample when you send one.
Soft copper scratches easily, so every finished piece is wrapped separately and packed to arrive exactly as it left the shop.
Steam, splashes and fingerprints. A soft towel solves most of it.
In a busy Edina kitchen, copper hood bands and faucet trim get steam, splashes and fingerprints every day. Wipe them with a soft cloth dampened in warm water, and dry them right after. A bit of dish soap handles grease. Skip cleaners made for stainless steel, since many of them scratch.
Hardware on a Tudor front door faces the full Minnesota winter, and lacquered antique copper handles it well. Each fall, look for spots where the clear coat has worn, usually on the thumb latch. If you see bare copper peeking through, we can reseal that piece before the snow starts.
If you prefer a living finish, we can leave the copper unsealed so it develops its own patina over time. That choice works well on rustic lighting, garden pieces and bar tops where the aging is part of the character.
When a lacquered piece starts to show dark spots, the coating has failed somewhere. Bring it back and we can strip the old lacquer, rebuff the copper and seal it again, usually without replating the whole part.
Copper Plating Gallery
Bright, satin and antique copper on lighting, hardware and hospitality pieces, plus functional copper for electrical and industrial work.
A few packing pointers for kitchen and bath parts leaving Edina.
Send photos of every piece and the copper finish you want. You receive a written quote and lead time, usually the same business day. Always wait for a quote number before shipping.
Wrap each part individually so metal never touches metal, and use at least three inches of padding on every side. Long trim and lighting arms should be double boxed.
Declare the real value with the carrier and email us the tracking number so we can log your parts the day they arrive.
When the copper work is done we photograph the finished pieces for your approval, then pack them in fresh materials and ship them back insured.
Every copper job is stripped, plated, buffed and inspected in our own facility in North County San Diego.
Copper, nickel, chrome and metal finishing in San Diego County since 1989.
Hardware from the southwest metro reaches our Oceanside, California shop by UPS or FedEx ground, normally in 3 to 5 business days. Your finished order comes home the same way, insured, and we email tracking so your builder knows when to expect it.
Copper pages for other cities near Edina:
Frequently Asked Questions
and the answers builders, designers and boutique owners ask us for.
Yes, as long as the band comes off the hood and fits our tanks. Send the length and a photo before you ship. Many hood bands are steel or stainless, and both plate well after prep. We can match a satin or antique finish to the rest of your kitchen.
Often, yes. We strip the factory chrome, prep the brass underneath and plate it in copper, then seal it for daily use. Take out cartridges, seals and hoses first, or have your plumber do it. The maker's warranty may not cover the new finish, so check first.
We do. Many of those 1920s houses still have their first door sets, often solid brass or bronze with crisp detail. We strip them, keep the patterns sharp, and plate them in antique copper so they suit the house. Keep each door's parts bagged and labeled.
Pack each client's pieces in their own bag or box inside the shipment, labeled with the project name, and add one short note that lists the finish for each. We keep everything separate through the shop and pack it back the same way, so nothing mixes up.
Not usually. Satin copper reads as a warm accent, and it works well with stainless, stone and white cabinets. Plenty of Edina kitchens mix them. If you're unsure, plate one pull or knob first and hold it up in your space before you commit to the rest.
Yes, and most of our work starts that way. We strip the old plating down to the base metal, repair what needs repair, then plate it fresh. New plating over a failing layer never lasts, so we don't do it.
We do. Along with single pieces for homeowners, we run batches of hundreds or thousands of parts for companies in California and other states. Send a photo of a sample, the quantity and the finish, and we'll quote the whole run.
Steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass, bronze, copper, pot metal and zamak. Some of them need extra prep so the plating bonds well, and we'll tell you up front if your part does.