Time also has value. All this time overthinking and looking to save a few bucks you could of bought a cog and the proper tool and been done with it.

You need to increase or decrease the chainring by roughly 3 teeth just to get the same effect as changing one tooth on the cog. So experimenting with gear inches is typically easier by swapping cogs. Purchasing multiple cogs is usually cheaper, easier to store, and last almost forever.