Taking dents out of fenders

[true blue 32 man]

I have some very nice fenders for my 32 project car. I;m also pretty good at patch panel replacment. However the fenders I have do have very minor dents not the big crash type dents that have collected over the years. have carefully tapped on the dents and to most would be acceptable. but how do you get that last little bit out? I have purchased an english wheel, but have not yet used it. I know you can take flat steel and by working back and forth you can curve the flat, even compoud curve it. My question is this . could you use the english wheel to smooth out the last little waves of a dent to make it near perfect or would it stretch it creating a hump worse than the original dent in worked area ? As they are now only would require a skim coat of filler or maybe a couple of heavy coats of primer, or am I being to fanatical? I have done the picking and file routine and then I have used a shrinking disc with limited sucess , but even that still leaves the minor low spots and that is what I;m trying to eliminate. Any help would be apprediated.

[cmbrucew]

TB32
Check Amazon.com for "the key to metal bumping"
Great book, will be a great help for working on sheet metal.
Bruce

Works good
Lasts long time

[rotorwrench]

Some folk like the shrinking disk that is used on an angle grinder. I haven't used one but have heard you can get them down to only the need for light skim coating of fillers or prime & sand build up if you get the technique down pat. An english wheel might be overkill & stretch the metal too much.

[Planojc]

I would just go ahead with the filler.

[Gary in La.]

The shrinking disc is great once you get past the learning curve and understand it fully. Remember the disc is used to shrink the metal,so if your problem is low spots you will need to bump them up slightly higher and then shrink them down. You may still need a slight skim coat to contour out.

[wga]

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You needs to get the metal bumping book and check out Ron Covell's work. Work on some sheet metal that you will not care if you ruin it. It is a fine craft.

[Dave72dt]

You're not done with the pick and file if you intend to do a complete metalfinish. A light wheeling may help but a near finished piece you intend to use is not the piece to learn on. Practicality says if you're that close, skim it. Getting that last 2% out will take at least twice as long as getting the first 98%.