removing timing chain & camshaft on a 79 triumph spitfire 

yes, but not by much. I found it interesting how far off bad adjustment can be and still run well.

The pit is after the carbon has gone. I was told all these molten metals have carbon deposits, occasionally some deposits are larger than at other times. When the molten metal is mixed, it is poured into a mold called a blank, and hardened by a process. The camshaft is machined from one of those blanks, then it might be re-hardened (or not), and boxed for sale or fitting. If the molten mix has some larger undetected carbon deposits near the surface, time will wear down the metal and expose those deposits. The carbon quickly wears away. I was told the hardening process brings the metal tighter together, that would squeeze the deposits, but the hardening is not deep, and the larger carbon is still full size deeper in the cast. There are images of tappets, sliced, to show the metal, carbon deposits, and hardened outer surface. A re-ground camshaft (aka re-profiled I think) has more of the hardening removed to reshape the lobe. I bought one, don't waste your money there. My re-profiled had 12,000 miles when I discovered the lobes were wearing away, unfortunately the warranty had expired, the low mileage didn't matter.