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A mm or two on each side can be done by hand pulling and the BB faces in the vice should be free of paint so it won't do any damage. The downside of spreading both sides at once with a threaded rod is that you can't control each side independently whilst checking alignment. It could be that only one side has pulled in or that they have pulled in or out by different amounts.
If it is just a matter of coldsetting the drop outs and the frame is otherwise 'straight' a less brutalistic method (and possibly less damaging to a paint finish) is to spread the drop outs by way of a screwed rod and some bolts.
I recently had occassion to consider this when a frame built for me was too narrow at the dropouts. However having strung the frame to check alignment it turned out the frame was IMO too far out and needed remedial 'leverage' to straighten.
Having paid a fair amount of cash for a bespoke frame I wasn't happy to do that.