On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 21:15:59 -0500, "Dick Snyder"
wrote:

My wife wants me to make a shoji screen but I would really call it a room
divider as it will be about 8-9 feet in width. It will be made up of
individual panels about 24" side. She wants it to have the area inside the
frame of each panel covered in a fabric that won't let much light through.
I'm trying to decide if the better way to stretch the fabric which must look
nice on each side of the room divider would be over a solid piece of maybe
1/4" plywood or if it would be better to do it over a rectangular frame that
is empty in the middle (imagine the frame being made up of 4 1" wide pieces.
The best way I think would be a solid piece of plywood but we both worry
about weight. This room divider will not be up all the time but will only be
put up when the space it is dividing needs to be closed off for some
temporary sleeping arrangements. I know the rectangular frame over which the
fabric is stretched would be lighter but I wonder if it would be strong
enough.

I can't find anything that gives me a clue by using google. I'm guessing
that one or more of you have made something similar. What would you advise?

TIA.

Dick Snyder



Woodsmith published an article in their magazine years ago about a 3
panel shoji. They use a somewhat non traditional method of
construction. I modified that design to use as individual panels to
slide in front of two different windows in my house. Both are quite
light because of my choice of wood. In my case, I used sitka spuce.
Perhaps that issue or article is still available from them. You build
multiple sets of that 3 panel assembly instead of one giant assembly.

And that could be one of the keys to your problem. Use a light wood
for the frame construction. Others in this thread have pointed you to
other good sources of information.