I am the only persons who has ever done this? I once stripped the teeth on a 42 teeth chainring. Not a very good ring, Miche, but fairly new, about 1000 miles, with a new Sedis chain at the same time. I was out training one day, slipped it off the 52 to start a longish steady climb. Suddenly I was pedalling fresh air. I was in a group of riders and I managed to get it back on to the 52 (with a little help from a push). On inspection, at the end of the ride, I discovered that the problem was that I had turned all the teeth back on themselves. I have never seen this before or since. Has any one else?
It was very inconvenient for me as it was a weekend training camp in deepest darkest Wales in mid winter. I spent the rest of the Saturday scrounging through the junk bins of a local "bike" shop for something that would work. Plenty of pink tassels, but not many rings or crank sets. In the end the shop owner stripped a crankset from his own hack bike and we fitted that, after hammering the chain stay in to a suitable shape to accommodate the new set up!
Regards
Martin Coopland, Scotland, http://www.BatesBicycles.com