# 29. WIA – Dovetailing: Pins vs. Tails, Part 1

Download Quicktime (*.mov)
Run time: 2a minutes, 49 seconds

This is Part 1 of 3 – the first session on dovetailing. I will have a separate video series for the session on Advanced Dovetailing, also with Frank Klausz. The introduction was by Popular Woodworking magazine’s Publisher Steve Shanesy.

Summary:
It was great to watch Frank Klausz and Roy Underhill onstage. For me it was a first, very educational, and a most entertaining experience. Unless needed, I will not edit the video much, to give you the best experience and the feeling of being there during the sessions. But I have divided this one into three Parts, to make it easier to watch at one sitting, and to download in high resolution (this means you can almost watch it full-screen).

In addition to the video above, I made the following short notes on items I thought important:

1. Session Survey (by show of hands – my estimates on the hand count): Approximately 7 people cut pins first; about 40 people cut tails first. The rest of the audience of about 200? I don’t know.
2. Frank Klausz used to cut tails and pins about the same size. Recently he has been cutting pins a little smaller than he used to.
3. When cutting out the waste, undercut by about 2° to 3°.
4. Always use the widest chisel possible to cut out the waste. This is most important to get a straight baseline.
5. “Make sawdust for the tails from the pieces we don’t need”. In the video he demonstrates this to mean “cut on the waste side of the pencil marks.”
6. Klausz uses a pencil to mark, because he can’t cut a knife mark in two; and he can see a pencil line better!
7. On the tails board: Cut the half-pins with the side teeth on the saw (i.e., those closest to the marking gauge line) really tight to the base line.
8. Use white Elmer’s glue for all joints – this gives us best chance to be able to properly glue the joint without the glue starting to set.
9. Reserve hot hide glue for furniture refinishing.

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