The process of chroming parts causes hydrogen embrittlement...I believe most would accept that as a fact.. I'm working (slowly) on a fixture for a new front straight axle for the '57 I picked up awhile back. I plan on building the axle with some chrome moly tubing, same method we used for our sprint car axles years back.

My question is this, just how serious a problem can hydrogen embrittlement be on an axle fabbed out of moly tubing that goes to the chrome shop? I want the car to be era correct, and all my favorites from the 60's ran a chrome front axle on their gassers but at the same time my partner on this project is planning some serious horsepressure for the car and I guess launching the front end a time or two won't be out of the question.... Should on be conservative on the side of safety and get the axle powder coated to resemble chrome, or send it to the chrome shop and stay on the "fashion" side???