Ding in a frame - problem?

[Gravity Aided]

Nail polish works out well, also. I have an Italian bicycle frame that was more nicks than paint, and more rust than steel. Between a bag of opened nail polish bottles ($3.50 at local resale shop) and a bottle of household cleaning vinegar, with the always required elbow grease, and she's a goer.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I've got two old Raleigh frames that have got Top Tube damage. One is a 1991 Reynolds 501 MTB frame, which looks to have been dented by dropping it against a lamp post or similar, and was then covered up with a sticker. I only discovered it when I decided to remove the shabby decals from the TT. I had no idea it was there and it's too trivial to worry about.
The other is an early-90's 18-23 Hi-tensile frame that came with a donor bike. Frame was very scruffy and damage wasn't noticeable until I stripped the decals off and rubbed it down to repaint. As well as a dent the tube looks slightly creased like something has been tightly clamped to it and crushed it a little. Given it's not a featherweight and its only going to see pub duty, I'm not going to worry about this one either.
It's worth remembering that tubing is sometimes deliberately swaged to make it more rigid, and the effect is much the same as a dent in that the metal becomes stretched and thinner in places. A Colnago Master frame made of Columbus tubing is very light as steel frames go - and they seem to withstand the tubing being dented during manufacture!

 

[Blue Hills]

Nail polish works out well, also. I have an Italian bicycle frame that was more nicks than paint, and more rust than steel. Between a bag of opened nail polish bottles ($3.50 at local resale shop) and a bottle of household cleaning vinegar, with the always required elbow grease, and she's a goer.

You prep the surface with the vinegar before applying the nail varnish?

 

[Gravity Aided]

No, I use the vinegar on the rusty bits, especially smaller parts, where the parts can sit in vinegar for a day or so. If the whole frame is rusty, like a Follis I was given, then I go to the wading pool method, only I use four 2x4 pieces of lumber nailed together in a square, and throw sheet plastic over it. Vinegar to cover, then scrub with a stiff household brush. Or I use towels soaked in vinegar, keeping them moist with vinegar, and the same. Followed directly by primer.

 

[Blue Hills]

You clearly have access to vast supplies of vinegar gravityaided. I do hope the authorities don't jump to conclusions about your large scale dissolving activities. Not sure I'd trust a frame that was all rusty.

 

[Gravity Aided]

'Tis only surface rust, in most cases. When you remove the surface rust, the steel is slightly lighter.