[CR]Frame dent repair question

(Example: Framebuilders:Mario Confente)

From: <Bikerdaver@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2004 00:34:37 EDT
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, OROBOYZ@aol.com
cc: richardsachs@juno.com
Subject: [CR]Frame dent repair question

Hello-
      Maybe some of the frame builders on this list can answer this issue. A friend of mine and I were looking at his dented top tube where a previous owner had let the bars swing back and put a small 1 mm deep "dimple" in the tubing. Its about 1 cm in diameter. Not knowing any better I told him that the way to get it fixed was to use a rig that clamped on the top and some how "smoothed" out the dent, with a follow up with paint and possible filler of some sort.
      He then asked why not drill a hole in it and pull it out like they do with car dents? I didn't have a good answer for him.
      Can any of the frame builders or other knowledgeable folks on this list share their insights of why or why not one approach is better than the other and why isn't the drilled-hole pull-out-the-dent technique used more often? Any and all opinions respected. Cheers Dave Anderson Cut Bank MT