each of my frames has 18 pins through the various joints. why 18?
perhaps it's an hommage to my jewish roots; the number '18' is the
symbol for 'life', chai...

18 is also the number of pins i need to keep things from going awry
while the frame is not fixtured, since i don't braze or tack in said fixture.
in my opinion, one way is no better than another way.

but don't mis-read this; my 'way' is better for me than if i were to
use 'his' way in my working environment and with my tools 'n materials.
pinning and tack brazing essentially do the exact same thing-to allow a
frame to be 'extracted' from a fixture and brazed, free-hand, so that
all the expansion and contraction from the joining process can allow the
pipes to 'go' where they want to go.

just as a plant grows toward the sun, heat affects metal. the idea is to
'tame' the metal to react in a way that enhances the finished frame, rather
than detract from it. as with everything, it's an economic issue; if it
matters, and if you can spend the time, you do it, if it doesn't matter,
you find a more time/cost efficient way to do it as well as you're able
to do it. economics...

e-RICHIE*
*pronounced 'itchy'.
the 'r' is silent