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The machine shop cleaned and stripped the paint off of the harmonic balancer. Now that it is clean, it's easy to see the dents from the previous owner of the engine having used a hammer to install it on to the crankshaft. Some engine builders and shadetree mechanics get away with using a hammer and a piece of wood, but using a hammer alone is not smart, to put it lightly.
To be honest, I have no idea why someone would spend days carefully building an engine, checking all of the tolerances, making sure everything is good, and then swat the thing with a hammer. Considering that using the proper balancer installation tool takes less time than a hammer, and can be rented for free from places like PartSource in Canada, using it is such an obvious choice. In the past, I have used the balancer bolt to put on the balancer, and one time it worked, the second time, it tore the threads out of the crankshaft. Long story short: when it comes time to install the balancer, I will be using the tool.
Installing a harmonic balancer with a hammer is just plain silly, especially without using a block of wood to spread the load.
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