The left saw has two kinks, but most of the rust is sanding off pretty well with 220 grit. The right one has a slight bend but no sharp kinks, though it has a fair amount of pitting that's deeper than sandpaper is taking off. I'll probably continue to restore the right one, but curious if folks think they wouldn't be functional.
I've heard people say you can mix sawdust from your workpiece with wood glue to make an invisible patch, but I've tried it twice (once in oak, once as pictured on ash) and both times it came out significantly darker and the surrounding wood. The glue is Tite Bond 3.
Does a different glue work better? How wet should the sawdust paste be? This is on the back so it doesn't matter a lot, but I'd like to have a good process for filling little mistakes.
