Fred, the issue of sawing waste becomes clearer when through dovetailing carcases in hardwood. A drawer with half blind dovetails, especially where the secondary wood is soft, is not the same deal.

There are two factors to sawing: the first is that it is quicker to saw away the waste on a (through) pin board. This may also be the case with the tail board, depending on how wide the tails are sawn. The tiny tails on my drawers are easy to chop out. Even so I do not do so. This is where the second reason comes in: there is less chance of spelching/breaking out the baseline if you saw and leave a slither of wood to either pare or chop away.



http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furnitu...ovetails3.html

Regards from Perth

Derek