Spent 2 years pulling lens rings with a rubber strap, then a retired guy in Dayton showed me the freezer trick
For the first couple years at my bench I fought every stuck filter ring and lens name ring with a rubber strap wrench, and half the time I would slip and gouge the barrel or crack the ring. I figured that was just part of the job. Then about 8 months ago a retired repair guy from Dayton named Walt stopped by my shop to pick up a body I had cleaned for him, and he watched me wrestle with a seized filter on a beat up 50mm for like 10 minutes. He asked if I had tried the freezer, and I kind of laughed at him. He said he used to do it on every stiff ring back in the 80s, 20 minutes in the freezer on a ziplock bag, then a hair dryer on the ring only for 30 seconds, and the aluminum shrinks off the glass just enough. I tried it that same afternoon and the filter spun off with almost no force at all. Now I keep a little freezer box next to the bench and I have not touched the strap wrench in months. Does anyone else use temp changes like this, and do you worry about condensation inside the lens after it comes out?