Whilst out riding today in all the mud my bike went from under me and my forks hit a rock. Not a big hit wasn't going fast enough, the biggest mark was on the crown but that is only small.

What I am unsure off is the few small scratches on the right stanchion and one tiny chip, a friend has told me this could rub on the seals when the fork compresses and cause them to wear and fail. He said about using really fine sandpaper and nail varnish to sort the scratches!?

Any advice welcome, Cheers 😀

The stanchions on my floats have been fecked for about 2 years, they seem to work ok though.

I did the nail varnish repair and it works. The nail varnish will wear though so it will need re-doing at some stage. I need to re-do mine (after about 6 months)but I'm going to use something more durable than nail vanish.

I'm about to try the nail varnish thing on my Pikes. What were you thinking of using other than nail varnish mojo5pro?

I was going to try one of those "stone chip" repair kits for cars from Halfords.

Cheers Mojo

Just found the thread where you posted about this. So you just soaked the 1200 wet/dry in water for 10mins took off the rough edges.

Then apllied varnish let it dry then sanded with the 1200 wet/dry but using it dry, then repeated the next day.

Did you dismantle the forks before you did it, I've never done them before.

My scratches are towards the crown end of the stanchion and the biggest is about is about 1cm long and only on the surface. The chip is about 2mm and not very deep with a slight rough edge.

How crucial is it I do it?

Rub the scratch with the back of a tea spoon. Put your thumb in the spoon end if you know what I mean. Rub and it will get better.
You might still need to fill it but dont sand it!

Klunky, if the teaspoon doesn't work (I'll try it tomorrow) what would you fill with, wouldn't you still have to sand down said filler as it would be raised!?

The jury seems to be out as to whether stanchion scratches actually cause that much additional wear. The theory is that dirt/dust can get trapped in the grooves and get carried into the lower legs. The deeper the scratch the bigger the risk. As yours are near the crown then it's less of a problem.
But as it's such a simple job to do it's worth doing to be on the safe side.
No need to dismantle the forks. Just sand down the scratch so there are no raised edges (use fine sand paper, 1200 wet dry is good).
Fill the scratch with the varnish. Leave to dry overnight. Sand the excess varnish so the the stanchion is completely smooth to the touch, i.e. the only varnish left is just filling the scratch.

Tick