I dropped a spool onto a concrete floor tonight and bent the rim. Then I probably made it worse when i tried to fix it. Can spool rims be straightened properly, or should I just give up on it?

Replace it.

They be dented with out I’ll affects but removing the dent is near impossible. Replace it.

I straightened a dropped Daiwa spool edge to functional with these bending pliers, but it was tedious work and not quite perfect, but functional.

(shaping a phosphor-bronze click spring for 1914 Talbot Niangua - this was tedious to get the old broken end out of the block - it's bent, sanded to correct width, not yet cut to final length).

My guetto way has saved 3-4 spools over the years. Take your nail cutting scissors. The handle part needs to be round. Put the spool flat on a hard surface that won't scratch it (plastic, wood, etc). The bent section needs to be the portion of the spool that is on the hard surface. Then, simply do passes (up and down, up and down) with the round side of the handle of your scissors on the section that's bent, and you don't even need to apply much force either. It unbends the edge equally, and the spool is saved.

Thanks for the input, everyone! I pplayed a little more, but I'm just going to write this off as suggested.

Dave

Round nose pliers work great for fixing dented spool edges, the same kind electricians use for bending Romex. I've done it for spools that are no longer available or very hard to come by and did well enough that the repair is hard to see unless pointed out. The curved tips let you reform the curve in the spool lip with little to no flat spot. Work slowly.

20 hours ago, redmeansdistortion said:

Round nose pliers work great for fixing dented spool edges, the same kind electricians use for bending Romex. I've done it for spools that are no longer available or very hard to come by and did well enough that the repair is hard to see unless pointed out. The curved tips let you reform the curve in the spool lip with little to no flat spot. Work slowly.

Thanks! I've got a pair of these! I won't cost me anything but time to try, I'll give it a shot.