looking at a Dave Sawyer ladderback

I’ve been studying a Dave Sawyer ladderback chair that I borrowed from my friend Peter Lamb https://www.instagram.com/gerrishisland/?hl=en This chair is made of red oak with a hickory bark seat and is dated 1974. All the parts are riven and shaved, only the tenons are turned.  Most of the specs for Dave’s chair are included in the Rick Mastelli article in Fine Woodworking in Mar/Apr 1982. You can access that article here https://www.finewoodworking.com/2022/09/20/remembering-dave-sawyer

Most of what I know about ladderbacks/post & rung chairs is from working with Jennie Alexander and Drew Langsner. In the recently updated version of her book, JA talks about how her chair is all straight lines below the seat and all curves above it. That makes the joinery pretty simple, all side rungs & rear rungs are one length. Only the front rungs are longer. Typical format there. Here’s one of the last chairs JA made, side-by-side with the Sawyer chair.