stevenbunn Sun, 04/19/2015 - 13:26
A quick note to anyone interested, I am now offering a set of plans for an Ebeneezer Tracy Sack-back Windsor chair, circa 1780-82. The ten page set of plans sells for $55.00. Postage and handling charges are included in the list price. Drawings on the front, side and back views of the chair are shown at one-third scale to achieve the best clarity I can show. Turning profiles for legs, stretchers and arm-posts are full-sized. Patterns for the arm and back bows are shown at half scale. I intend to offer plans for a number of other Windsor chairs in the future. I will be adding a Plans Available link on the main website shortly. In the meantime I wanted to get the word out. The plans are available in hard copy and mailed to your address. The plans won't teach you to make a Windsor chair. If you have already made a Windsor chair, and have basic turning skills on the lathe, this is a project you can handle. Tracy's Windsors are some of the most iconic chairs ever made, Once you are familiar with his turning patterns and distinctive seat profiles you can flip through a book on Windsor chairs and pick his work out immediately.
I made my first Tracy Sack-back in 2002 when a gentleman from Falmouth brought me his grandmother's chair and asked me to make four chairs to match. He had four daughters who were graduating from high school and college, and he wanted to present each daughter with one of these beautiful chairs. The project expanded when on seeing the first four chairs, his wife wanted four chairs for their home. Then both his brother and sister ordered four chairs each. The whole project was a lot of fun. Tracy's Sack-back is one of my favorite designs. A picture of one of these chairs is posted a little further down this page. It does a good job of showing the distinctive seat and the major turnings. The sharply back bent top bow and the under cut seat front don't show in the picture. You can't have everything. But you can have a set of plans for an exchange of filthy lucre and build one for yourself. Anyone interested?