I know some guys who are die hard restorers who either pay the outrageous price to have parts replated with Cadmium at aviation places, or send all their parts to Greece (I guess its still common there).
I tried the DIY nickle plating, mixed my own juice (very easy to find recipes on interwebs). It works good. A little experimenting on a rainy Saturday and your in business.
Mine is not "show quality", but its better than rust or paint that chips the first time you put some grunt behind a wrench. The look reminds me of a used fastener that has been wiped with an oily rag for years (old but well maintained look if that makes sense).
Probably have 25 bucks wrapped up in the whole shebang, which is better than getting only half your stuff back from a far off country.
Shoot, last time I sent in a large order of small parts to the platers, I got about 40 out of 60 back the first time around. The rest trickled in as they were found, and he is only 30 miles away.