Pulling a dent from a powder flask?

[Woody Morgan]

4f might be better.

Let's ask Britsmoothy!

wm

 

[French Colonial]

Here is what has worked for me several times in the past.

Take a 1/2 inch steel or brass rod and flatten the end so its about an inch and a half wide or so and round it a little, kind or like a spoon but the cavity not as deep and smooth on the convex part.

Clamp the round part of the rod very tightly in a vise with about a foot and a half or so sticking out with the flattened rounded convex part up.

With the spout off, slide the flask over the rod and place the convex part on the underside of the dent and hit the rod with a hammer in between the flask and the vise (Lightly at first) while applying down pressure on the part of the flask facing up. Holding on to the middle may loosen the side seams.

The bounce of the rod will pop the dent out.

 

[TheSpamPotential]

M80 with a long fuse.

 

[CyrusP]

I’d put a .58 cal partially flattened ball in the center of the dent and say that the flask saved its previous owner during some battle.

 

[Joemolf]

View attachment 113672
I see a good many of these flasks which have acquired a fairly deep dent some time in their life but are otherwise in fairly desirable and useful condition.

Short of cracking it in half and rendering it useless, has anyone developed a reliable technique for pulling the dents from these?

Would love to save a few.

If you have an air compressor try clamping an air hose to and slowly increase the air pressure to get it to pop back into shape of course go easy and be safe

 

[toot]

if 3fg. is good than 4fg. is better. more bang for your buck!!

 

[Joemolf]

My first thought would be to pressurize it with air just enough to pop the dent

Second thought would be to use dry ice to shrink the dent and return it to normal

I would not drill a hole in it, nor try to beat on it from the inside out

Do a search for a dent removal video

Sorry didn’t mean to step on your reply I agree with DaveyBoy’s idea of using compressed air

 

[Whitworth]

With a hot glue gun fasten a wooden dowel in the center of the dent. Be generous with the glue, when cool pull the dowel to pop the dent. The hot glue can be peeled off starting at the edges. YMMV

 

[French Colonial]

Personally I would never use air to pressurize ANY container that is not designed to be pressurized

If the pressure builds sufficiently to pop a seam you can be struck by flying fragments as the air jets out.

When leak testing non-pressure vessels they are filled COMPLETELY with water and just a very small amount of air, 4-5 lbs is used.

This keeps the large volume of air from escaping from a seam giving away and causing damage.

 

[jimhallam]

I'd probably just leave it as is but you could do it like a dent in a car. Drill a hole in the center of the dent put in a metal screw and pull from the outside then solder the hole closed.

... and then you have permanently damaged it ... probbaly not too significant with a repro, but with an ORIGINAL ??? ;-(((((

 

[jimhallam]

View attachment 113672
I see a good many of these flasks which have acquired a fairly deep dent some time in their life but are otherwise in fairly desirable and useful condition.

Short of cracking it in half and rendering it useless, has anyone developed a reliable technique for pulling the dents from these?

Would love to save a few.

Might be worth Googling how repairers of Brass instruments do it ... ?

 

[Ames]

After messin' it up with hot glue, epoxy, compressed air, controlled explosions, busted seams.....I'd just wrap it with buckskin. You can pad out the dent under the skin so you don't have to see it anymore.

 

[appalichian hunter]

Depending on your metal working skills, I would take it apart so you have two haves, using a sand bag and a small leather mallet gently work the dent out and then re-assemble not a easy job so it depends on how bad you want the dent removed, the other ways mentioned would suffice but they will not comptly have great results. The other option and I believe it was mentioned is find a re-storer of brass musical instruments and have them do it.

 

[mooman76]

I'd fill it with water and freeze it. That should force it out.

 

[2 shots]

i think pushing on very thin brass or copper with a rod or dowel from the inside might just make a mess of small dents. one large one will look better than that. flattend , rounded end sounds better. ????

 

[RMSLS1]

I would suggest just hot gluing several dowels or suction cups on the outside and gently pulling until it is flush to surrounding areas. I would start at an outside area. It will never be like new. The glue can be removed easily vs. epoxy. Just use a hair dryer gently. There is a tool for this, but it would cost more than the flask most likely.

Pop-A-Dent

 

[Tom A Hawk]

With all of the " create internal expansion force" suggestions above please bear in mind that without some method to isolate the force and maintain the shape of the flask, the expansion forces will act equally on the entire flask - not just the dent. The weakest area of the flask, be it the other side or the seams will see the effect of expansion first and may result in unintended consequences.

 

[French Colonial]

I knew I had learned the bumping bar method from somewhere but wanted to be sure before I posted.
Use of the Paulus Bumping Bar and Dolly's are described in Ray Rilings, The Powder Flask Book.
Page 162

 

[Jaeger]

Air hose?

I used the word "patina" tongue-in-cheek. That's why I had it in quotation marks. You could say the dent is part of the CHARACTER of your flask...

 

[Bighorserider]

Take it to a paintless dent removal place. They preform miracles on cars. Flask should be no problem.