there's a Shirley Temple/Buck Rogers joke in there somewhere but I haven't had enough coffee to figure it out. there's a piece flat piece of stainless trim on the underside of my Fairlane's trim just above the grill that has a couple of dings and dents on it. they're not bad enough to cause the piece to be replaced but I would like to straighten them a bit. I keep thinking body hammer and block of wood but would sure hate to do more harm than good.....?
I chuck an old air chisel bit that's been rounded smooth or a hardwood dowel sanded to shape in my drill dress and then use it like an arbor press to slowly press the dent out. I back it with a piece of wood with a couple layers of leather on top (I use an old welding glove). You need the leather backing to allow the stainless to stretch a little past level, it will spring back a little when you relieve the pressure. I found by pressing the dents out you have a ton more control then with a hammer.
make a male and female block set of the area out of hardwood. Sand smooth. then using a vice slowly press the metal between them.
You can knock the dent out from the back side and the nice thing about stainless is you can file, sand and Polish it back to it original finish. I like use a round faced punch to knock the small dents out. I clamp the punch in my vise then hold the trim over it while smacking it with the smooth side of my body hammer.
I've polished hundreds of pieces of stainless. The method I used was like Lobucrod said, tap them out from the back side. Use a slightly rounded punch. For the anvil on the fron side use as smooth a piece of metal as you can find, any imperfections in its finish will be transferred through. Then it can be filed perfectly flat and worked with sand paper and finally buffed out. It depends how particular you are. Filing and finishing takes patience but rewarding.
Befor doing anything determine if the metal has stretched. You might have to shrink it back into place.
To quote a saying from the old Bugs Bunny cartoon: "Be Verry!! Verry!! careful!!! Go slow. It's easy to stretch the area around the dimple. I know from experience.
Both are the correct way for repairing stainless. I have been restoring stainless for years the way "Lobucrod" stated. I just have 1 question: Are you sure that trim piece is stainless???? I thought that piece was anodized aluminum. If it's aluminum then there's a whole different restoration process.
I use smooth clean wood as dollys and I have a wood body hammer that I made for the inside from some dowel. I shape it as required for each job. I also have an automatic center punch for the tiny dents. I rounded the end so that it was blunt, and I back off the tension for the first punch. I slowly increase the tension on the punch until it can just move the metal a tiny amount. Then several small pushes on the punch to remove the little dings. I have a couple different tips for the punch as well.
If you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself, this goes for anybody, go to your local jeweler and he can do it for you, I'm a Master Jeweler and have done it for many people. We have the right tools and can even buff it out for you.
I use Lobucrod's method. I also bought a very small trim anvil and trim hammer from Eastwood a few years ago that is a great aid. I made a dolly from a spoon that works great for pushing the dents out too.
What number grade sandpaper do you use to smooth out the gouges and scratchs once you get most of the dents and scrapes out. Wet or dry?? I really need advice on this thread.
After filing I use 80 grit on a DA sander. Then go to 240 grit and onto 320 grit. Then it's off to the wheel where I use 2 different compounds. Either red or gray and then white.
fellers, thanks for all the replies! I appreciate all the good info. It's a semi-rare piece of trim (ain't they all?) and the thought of messing it up was making my hind-end pucker up and suck buttermilk .
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