Am I the only one who spent 14 hours on a simple flange gasket?

We had a high pressure steam line flange on a unit in Toledo that was weeping. The specs called for a standard spiral wound gasket, so I figured it was a two hour job, tops. The old gasket was totally fused to the flange face, like it was welded on. I went through three different scraping tools, a wire wheel on the grinder, and a whole can of gasket remover. The real kicker was finding a tiny, almost invisible gouge in the sealing surface that needed a careful touch with a file. What should have been a quick swap turned into a full shift and then some. Anyone have a better trick for fused gaskets on old steam lines?

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