Cleaning records. How often really?

Dear Inna,
You've just forced me to publish (check out the new thread) :)

Cheers,

Dear Albert,
Very frightening story about the steel bristle. Certainly I'd heard that fragments of tungsten steel from the grinder blades when reprocessing old vinyl were not uncommon but never encountered one as up close and personal as you did. :(

(We've probably all heard one or two smaller ones though...)
It's unlikely we'd ever dislodge these particles, embedded as they are, in most cases. (Well, not without making the vinyl as unplayable as before)

One album I encountered had a small clearance hole drilled through the playing area. It reinforces the idea that a quick inspection before playing is highly recommended ;^)