This is what I did to remove the pins in dad's clamshell strainer & butt: I cut the pin in half with a hacksaw blade behind the shell. Took a little time, not a lot of room to saw. Then, for assembly, I used about a 3/8" long piece of small brake tubing to "splice" the pin back together and soldered it. Held it all together in a vise to get the correct tension in the bracket before soldering the pin together.
Wow thank you!! That's a great way to fix this. That'll work just fine. :)