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Just received a text from my friend who owns the metal fabricating plant. He said: "They (his employees) did some light polishing that did not scratch the surface. Then put it on the micro view (he sent some cool photos of the damage) to check the depth. It is not a scratch, it is pitted through the nickel plating. We would have to polish all the plating off to get it all out. I do not think we want to do that. I am going to look into spray welding nickel."

The saga continues. :)