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PSA: I quit pulling dents with a heat gun on top plates, now I push them from inside with a rod, which way is right?
About 3 years ago I fixed a dented Nikon F2 top plate on my bench in Sacramento by heating it with a heat gun and easing the metal back with a wood dowel, and it looked decent for about two days until the paint started to craze and a tiny crack opened up near the rewind knob. A retired tech who runs a small shop in Oakland laughed at me and said heat is for shrinking leather, not for moving brass, and that he always pushes dents from the inside with a brass rod ground to a smooth ball tip, working slow with finger pressure and a little tape to protect the finish. Since then I have done maybe 40 top plates his way and the results hold up way better, the metal moves without the paint lifting, and I get a cleaner crown around the edges. But his way takes forever, I mean an hour on one small dent, and I crack the odd corner if I rush, so there is a real trade off in time versus risk. The heat gun guys say a little warmth makes the metal move easier and saves the customer money, and I get that argument too. So which camp are you in, do you warm the metal first or keep it cold and push it out slow, and has anyone here cracked a plate doing it one way and switched to the other?
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