Thanks, Jake!
I do many things to keep the pins from happening. I gave up on soapstone, too messy and too slippery except for fine work on nonferrous. These days it's three strokes, bang the tip on the vise, a quick sweep of the card (actually one of those toothbrush-sized wire brushes), check for pins, dislodge with Exacto blade. Of course, if a big pin happens I feel it instantly, and remove it at once.
This particular wrought seems well-behaved. It's a 1.25" tie rod from a large building in Maine, as I understand, and is quite clean. A test etch didn't look nearl