cylinder head gouge at the combustion chamber edge

Will i need to take this to the machine shop to get it repaired or is the damage minimal enough where the headgasket will be able to seal it?

I will say machine shop with a light bit of bowl work.

Yeah that's not great, i'd have it fixed or it may be cheaper to grab another head

Machine shop.

+4.  If a gasket seals that it would be a miracle.  That is the absolute worst place to have a surface imperfection, let alone a gouge.

Probably should have the decks skimmed anyway because MLS.

I'm not suggesting it as the best idea, but if money is tight, and/or you are adventurous, glue some 60 grit to a glass tabletop, and resurface it at home. I worked in a junkyard, and we used a huge belt sander for this very thing. I put together a lot of junk that ran perfectly. Added bonus: free compression bump.

That gasket surface needed refinishing before the gouge, now there is no question.

If you were in a third world country, and poor, you could easily surface it on a glass tabletop.  If not so poor, you could even TIG in some material to file back down to smooth.

That said, you had the head off for some unspecified reason.  Go ahead and do it right.  A machine shop rebuilt head will be better (less risky) than a junk yard head.

So how did that happen?  

Usually its a 15" Craftsman screwdriver than someone used to pry the head off...   

Looks to me like the head got dragged on one of the studs during removal.

TurnerX19 said:

Looks to me like the head got dragged on one of the studs during removal.

Better theory 

In reply to Purple Frog :

sadly, that's correct. :( lesson learned. first head i've ever pulled. 

In reply to acfreak :

Almost everyone's done it at some point.