Scarfyman

That seems reasonable, especially considering that Marsh still had some control and twice as many spikes for Ruin of use him through as a standard Inquisitor.

With the release of the inquisitor instruction kit (the Hemalurgic Table of Metals), I've noticed something odd about the Pathian earring that we see Wax with in Shadows of Self. I can't remember exactly where it's stated but the "normal" metal for these earrings is duralumin because of its association with Connection, which makes sense considering its meant for conversing with Harmony, but this means that for some reason there were inquisitors with duralumin spikes for connection/identity that were used to create Harmony's hemalurgic communication earrings. My first thought was that this was the linchpin spike to Connect the other spikes better with the inquisitors spirit web (but we know this is steel so it can't be). Why do you guys think these duralumin spikes were created in the first place, now that we know they either grant extra Connection or Identity?

Vins earring isn't actually in contact with her bloodstream though, the wound from piercing would have healed long before she got hold of aluminium or duralumin. Plus it is a spike and would have taken longer to burn away with aluminium and it would have only burner away from duralumin if she was using her bronze at the time, which I can't remember happening in the books (correct me if I'm wrong though).

Exactly

Figured there would be a WOB on it somewhere.What i am proposing requires 1) quite a large wound, and 2) maintaining contact long enough and well enough that there is blood flowing across the metal that is still in circulation, not just bleeding out over the piece of metal. Having the metal as a 'seal' over the wound might be enough to allow aluminium to be able to destroy it, that WOB does seem to indicate that something along these line would work.

I agree, but using aluminium give two advantages even if you are a mistborn 1) If the metal you're wanting to burn away is an 'off alloy' or a metal that isnt on the table like titanium or lead, burning it as a mistborn would kill you/make you sick, but destroying it with aluminium would just destroy it with no effect. 2) Using aluminium destroys the metal instantly, whereas burning it normally can only be up to a fixed rate. So you could use the normal power (like burning the iron bars of a cell with iron) but it would take longer.

1) I was thinking it would be a useful ability for a thief or other espionage role, especially in era 2 where there is a lot of metal around. say hold your cut open palm to a bank vault to burn away the door or grab the bars of your cell and burn them away. very niche use but it would be very unexpected to anyone in universe 2) I thought about this for an aluminium gnat, though a mistborn would be able to pull it off cause the can burn any metal, just most kill them/make them sick.

So i was thinking about some creative ways to use the metallic arts and i came up with a really cool, if what morbid use for aluminium. Because an allomancer can burn any metal in their bloodstream, its reasonable to say that if an aluminium gnat or a mistborn were stabbed by anything metal they could burn aluminium to destroy the object, as it would count as a metal reserve. To be even more ridiculous, if an aluminium gnat held an open wound to a piece of metal and there's still blood flow through the wound, they would probably be able to destroy the 'metal reserve' that the object represents. Pair this use with say feruchemical gold to make the required injuries less life-threatening and you've got yourself a very interesting, if macabre twinborn. This is all assuming that the functionality of allomantic aluminium to burn away the reserves of all metals present is conserved in an aluminium gnat.

My thoughts exactly Walin, iron compounders also arguably have the best manoeuvrability in most era 2 environments purely from the sheer amount of metal in buildings and other structures. 'Slingshot' fits them much better than 'Deader'.