Brass lugs

i love the look of cycling wmds brass lugs on this bike: My Custom Bilenky 'Hetchins Tribute' Track Bike on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

how can go about creating this look? i cant imagine painting them would achieve the same aestetic, is there some kind of electrolite plating involved?

looking at the rest of the flicker gallery you can see the bike being made, the lugs are clearly made from steel, so they must have had some treatment to create that look.

i think it gold paint, might be wrong though

Brass is a soft metal, lugs are not somewhere that you want a soft metal. It is paint.

Possibly steel that has been zinc/nickel plated and then gold passivated.

uh?

Brass is a soft metal, lugs are not somewhere that you want a soft metal. It is paint.

I thought lugs were brazed on with brass?

brass plated lugs ?

I thought lugs were brazed on with brass?

There's quite a difference between brazing on with brass and actually making the lugs out of brass. Where's a frame-builder when you want one!

I thought lugs were brazed on with brass?

They are. Because, as VB has said, it's a soft metal that has a low melting point which can be used to braze steel tubes into cast steel lugs.

i assumed they were made of brass at first, but having seen the construction pictures im guesing thier either plated or painted. they dont look painted though, they have a certain quality that would indictae otherwise.