Shop press versus torch and hammer, which do you trust for crusty old steel frames?

I had to replace a headset cup on a steel frame from the 80s last month, the kind that's pressed in tight like it's welded. My coworker Dave said to just heat the frame and tap it out with a drift, the way he learned in 1995 at a shop in Portland. I went with buying a cheap clamp-on press kit for $140 instead, and honestly it fought me for two hours because the frame is ovalized worse than I thought. Dave's method would have wrecked the paint on this collectible, but I still wonder if I wasted money on a tool I'll barely use. Has anyone else had to pick between saving a frame's finish and spending cash on a specialized tool, and what did you go with?

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william_taylor20d ago

Torch and hammer is how I learned to do pretty much everything, which probably explains why my workbench looks like a crime scene and I own three different sizes of drift punch but only one functional vice. Bought a cheap press off Craigslist for $60 and it sat in the garage for two years before I finally used it on a stuck bottom bracket cup, and surprise, the frame still fought me because I forgot to clean the rust out first. Dave's method definitely has its place, but on a collectible frame with original paint, I'd rather sweat over a press than explain to a buyer why there's a hammer mark shaped like my ego on the head tube. My rule now is simple: if the paint is already rough, heat and beat. If it's decent, I take the slow route and cuss quietly.