To buff or not to buff...that is the question...

You need to get out more , looking at clamps will drive you nuts

 

Those clamps were originally cadmium plated.

 

Exactly- you will be sitting in a rubber room by yourself soon,

 

Every time you buff them, you run the risk of taking off or thinning the plating which provides the protective coating. Eventually rust will develop. Given the irregular shape and high and low points, I think buffing is a short term fix. Shiny for a while, but thinning the plating that may lead to rust down the road. If you have silver looking clamps, then the cadmium is mostly gone.

As stated earlier, clamps were cadmium plated like these:
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Strip and replate

 

Those look painted

 

Agreed!

 

Real cadmium aerospace plating. Just the camera flash.

If I could get them to look like that with "cadmium" paint, such as Eastwood offers, I would be in business for myself.

As stated earlier, strip and replace...and document all the specs of the hardware you remove!
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That looks better! First pic looked like they were gloss.

 

Did you plate those or did you use a shop?
I'd like to have some parts done but I hate doing it.

 

I used a place in Erie, PA to do plating and they were very reasonable. I had things done in clear zinc and gold zinc, but they do cad as well. They even billed me after completing the job. Sent pics of stuff I wanted done got estimate back and it took a few days after they recieved everything.

http://www.galvanizeit.com

 

I had a shop do it 4 years ago. Not easy to find a business that does cadmium and was willing to take on a small job. As far as I know I don't think you can cadmium plate at home. I have used the Eastwood zinc home plating for some pieces, mostly light contact, like the band that holds the plastic windshield washer fluid container in the front of the car. I would not recommend the home setup for nuts and bolts. The finish will wear off too easily.
Even the cadmium nuts and bolts show wear on the corners.

 

Replating clamps on classic cars in done all the time. It all depends to what level of correctness you want to achieve. They were originally cadmium plated so they would not corrode. Buff them it you want but they will surely corrode fast unless top coated which defeats the polishing.

 

Thanks. The cadmium is the easy part. You simple dip zinc plated parts in a wash and they turn yellow.

http://www.caswellplating.com/yellow-chromate.html

I've used this around 20 times. First zinc and then this dip. The hard part is getting the zinc platting even. For small parts you need to use a tumbler.