Manual steering column shaft

we saw this before. someone beat the crap out of the shaft trying to remove the steering wheel. I think that is 7/16 fine thread. It was suggested he file away all the threads, down close to 3/8 diameter and run a 3/8 NF die over it. I don't know why that wouldn't work. Keep the filings and chips out of the column/signal switch, fix it in the car.