Daniel,
I'm sorry to hear about your Dent. From a mental health prospective this may help.
Try to think of all the dents abrasions paint chips as a patina of history associated with your bike. I mean a big part of your bikes history is that it has left its native shores and headed out to pastures new picking up a 'scar' along the way. Look at this dent in a kindly almost paternal light as it embelishes your Nuli Secundus rather than in a negative way.
Cheers,
John
>From: "Daniel Dahlquist" <dahlq@galenalink.net>
>To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>Subject: [CR]Hurt Hetchins
>Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 09:59:34 -0600
>
>Dear CR Members,
> I could really use some advice from my brethren. A couple of days ago
>my long-awaited Hetchins Nulli Secundus arrived from England. It was
>first sold in 1954, and still has 95% of its original paint, which is a
>beautiful dark bronze (where the paint has been protected, the bronze runs
>to a deep burgandy).
> Despite foam pipe insulation on all tubes, the axle of one
>tightly-packed wheel rode on the downtube for thousands of miles, and has
>put a dent there, right through the original paint. The dent is about the
>size and shape of a screwdriver blade, running perpendicular to the
>downtube.
> Here's where I need your advice, or, at the very least, the assistance
>of any mental health care professionals who might be on the list.
> What do I do about this dent? I confess I am a bit anal retentive.
>Many of my friends would simply fill the dent with putty and touch up the
>paint as best they could, and forget about it. But there's something about
>filler that has always bothered me. In antique frames with dents I have
>usually have the dents filled with brass or silver. Would it be completely
>insane to lose the original paint on the Hetchins downtube in order to fill
>a minor dent in this way?
> When I buy a bike in the states I almost always ask that the wheels be
>shipped separately, in order to avoid this problem of downtube damage. But
>since this bike was coming from England, I tried to save a couple of bucks
>and had everything shipped in a single box. I've no idea why plastic caps
>were not placed on the axles.
> The transfers on this Hetchins are mostly gone (one can see only the
>"shadow" of the Hetchins name on the downtube), but the paint is wonderful.
> I wish I could keep from staring at the dent, and appreciate the bike in
>its entirety.
> This must have happened to some of my fellow collectors at one time or
>another. Do I need counseling? Should I seek assistance from mental health
>care professionals? Any advice and comfort, technical and/or spiritual,
>from my CR friends will be greatly appreciated.
>
> Warmly,
>
> Daniel "Maybe I think too much about bicycles" Dahlquist