Designing the shoji

The idea for shoji panels came about after looking at what the office room lacked — occasional visual privacy. And that was it! Noise control, security and durability were not influencing factors (surprisingly enough, after some thought). Lightweight shojis came to fit the bill perfectly.

With a future maildrop cabinet taking up the corner and a 6-foot opening to cover, there appeared a serendipitous 2-foot blank wall area that got the shoji design off and running.

Three 2-foot panels became a natural choice. They would stack neatly to cover the blank wall when fully open. When closed, they had to overlap slightly. 25" turned out to be the best width.



And of course, I wanted them thin. I wanted the total stack of panels as compact as possible. I simply picked out some stock 1x2 clear douglas fir. They measure only about 3/4" thick. They're cheap, too. Red cedar is actually a better choice for shoji frames, but I would need to rip cedar in two dimensions because I couldn't find them in 1x2 stock — I was lazy. 1/4" pine strips was then fastened, using a spring-loaded stapler, to sandwich the shoji paper.



Such compactness meant careful planning in creating the narrow floor rail. It had to be wood, and it had to serve as a threshold to transition from bamboo on one side to an unknown future floor on the other. I found stock bipass-door rollers (replacement hardware) to fit inside mortised pockets in each panel. They needed individual rails. Only after getting precise dimensions was I able to take a router to solid maple.



Lastly, the headrail had to be kept simple. This little project became more planning and design than fabrication. 1/8"-thick pressboard was slot-glued to match the spacing below. And since each panel goes in place by sliding up, then lifting onto a rail, there had to be a minimum depth and width. It had to be tall enough but not too tall, narrow enough but not too narrow. With proper planning, it was easier done than said. The dash line indicates the height of a panel radiused from the first bottom rail — a required dimension prior to cutting the very first piece for the shoji panels themselves.

Total costs of materials: $100 for the shoji paper, $50 for everything else.