Sakae, Ovaltech "like" chainring, worn in a certain way. Will it impede my riding or should I just use it anyway? Thanks for the help

"Ovaltech like"

I wouldn't use it in a fixie, because its not round.

Worn spots on the sides of the teeth aren't a problem. The only critical wear is on the drive side of the tooth, where the chain rollers push against the tooth. For chainrings, that allows the chain to ride up toward the tip of the tooth, and to accelerate the chain wear.

Actually, your chainring looks fairly new, with minimal wear. How many miles on it?

(The tips of the teeth have a notched look to them, which appears to be part of the chainring design, machined in when it was made.)

In another chainring wear thread, I posted this photo of my chainrings after 5000 miles, with very minimal wear, other than the black anodizing on the sides of the teeth. Yours look much less used than these.

Minimal wear. Most modern chainrings have repeated sections of differently shaped teeth, to aid in shifting, usually just on the big ring. This shows the interior side, so the pedaling rotation is counter-clockwise, and the chain engages on the left/bottom side of the teeth. The opposite sides are sloped more to help with shifting.

It is for a triple crankset. The notches are actually damage done to the chainring, I'm guessing from poor shifting habits or a chain getting jammed at one point or another. I have no idea how many miles this ring has, removed from crank dating around 1989. The other two chainrings look good however, and I'd like to keep this vintage stuff together if possible.

That being said, I was hopeful that this damage would be considered inconsequential and I could use it regardless.

Which notches are you talking about? The rings look perfectly fine.

If you look closely at the second picture you can see the notches on the teeth. Looks like the chain took chunks of metal out of the tips of the teeth. I'm getting the feeling this isn't all that important and I'm going to use them anyway.

I can't see how the chain could cut such sharp notches into every tooth like that, from poor shifting or wear. You sure they weren't always like that?

Those teeth were made that way. My Bio Ring has the same teeth shape.
Jon