Pin Peening

My brass rods arrived today so I started thinking about the re-pinning process. I have used the silver pins supplied by classic shaving and with those only one side has to be peened. How is the raw brass rod prepared? Is the first peen accomplished by placing a length of rod in a vise and gently shaping it then cutting the rod the appropriate length?

In the Wiki you find a illustrated guide that I did step by step and even a video that Alex did....
And yes a vise is the safest way to start them or what is called a pinning block which is basically a block of metal with correctly sized holes drilled in it...

How is a pinning block used?