thank you everyone for the wonderful support! i feel so motivated to improve even more!
hi SLC,
the fancy tool is a valve out of a small gas engine

it has been ground into a makeshift punch about 30 years ago, and from abuse has a nice rounded tip and a slightly curved face
so it works well for light hammering from either end
the rod is 1/4 inch plane mild steel used as a drift, it's ends are also rounded lightly
the copper wire is just copper wire, easy to form to match the inside curves to tuck into the rolled edges of the rim
towards the end of shaping i find it works better to transition to hammering on hard steel as the amount of movement and area that needs shaping gets smaller and you need to get to as flat as possible so that the least sanding will be required, many small taps are worth more than one big tap of the hammer, you don't want to stretch the metal, just massage it back to where it came.
two more photos,
intermediate sanding to reveal high and low spots, this step is important for me,
close up of the repaired area, there are still waves, but a bit of practice goes a long way.
-s