I asked a smith about this once. He said that at one time he used some chemicals, but disposal of the waste was a problem for him. He also mentioned doing a reverse electric plating, but that sounds tricky to me. As I remember, he said he did most with buffing (sounds like work). Take care, have fun.... Roger_Dailey
p.s. give Brownells tech line a call,
Nickel has to be stripped off using chemicals with or without electricity. I don't nickel plate in my shop but do occasionally have a customer who wants a nickel plated gun blued. Brownells (515) 623-5401 sells a product that works well without heating or agitation and works on electrolytic and electroless nickel. It' called, amazingly, Room Temperature Nickel Stripper. I think the price is around $32. George