Gentlefolk: Any suggestions about what to do with a burred balance cock foot/ plate. This was done by a bothcher to give height to an overlong staff. I have used light strokes with a graver held face down. But this mars the plate and the cock serial #. Similarly, what is a good repair of a roller burred by that awful K&D triangular punch so that the roller would be tighter on the staff. Thanks,

John,

You could try smoothing the burr with a very small and fine grained stone, keeping the motion of the stone to a minimum and only over the burr. That might minimize the marking up of the plate. There will probably be some marks made no matter what you do. It will take some time and care but may work.

If you have an "end mill" you could very slowly bring it down on the burrs and incrementally cut them back to the surface (or as close as you dare). If you use a very small diameter, that would minimize marking.

As far as the roller goes... I don't know what you do about that. I think the roller table is hardened (could be wrong though) so any work on it may be difficult. Perhaps a replacement is in order if still available. On the other hand, possibly, you may ream the hole back to original size to fit the new staff.

Not much help I'm afraid but I thought I would type some ideas on what I would try.

Luck!
Tim.