What would you do? Here's what I wound up doing

[pbe gummi bear]

I don't have a rubber mallet (gonna change that soon) so I wrapped a 20 oz framing hammer with a thick layer of cloth and tapped the vents until they were in as good as shape as they were gonna get. The two that were OK to start with were much better. The bad one was still not so good.

So I got out the propane torch and heated the bad one up good and hot. With it still hot, I placed a Bush's bean can (with both ends removed) on the daisy wheel and pressed down hard on it until the daisy wheel was cool to the touch.

It worked.

It's still not perfect, but its a whole lot better than it was. I won't be drilling out the rivets anytime soon.

Thanks for all the tips and advice. Maybe my technique will help someone else.

Awesome work Harbormaster. Thanks for the tip. last time I put a torch to a vent I melted it. 

[Craig]

That's an awesome Avocado! I cook on all of mine.. that's what they were made for!    I agree with Buckie!

One possible idea for the bowl vents could be a compromise of sorts... If your wanting function, but want it looking closer to original you could always get the new dual tab vents, use aviation snips, cut one tab off, and cut the remaining one down to size and file it into shape like the old small turn tabs. Then it would look closer to "period correct". However, I've seen replacement vents on older (pre mid 70s) kettles and its no big deal. As others have said, you cant see them, and if you go low and slow, you want the vents to function.  The vents on my 18.5 red are beginning to wear out, and I am holding out as long as they'll function. Eventually I'll have to replace them if I want to keep it in action.