I have a lot of compost I bought from Home Depot. While it is a good price I need to "sift" some of it to get to the fine stuff. Does anyone have a recommendation on building such a device and what size screen to use? moderator's note: moved topic to more appropriate forum
I remember someone posted about a sifter he made but I can't remember who it was... and I've tried to find it by searching but without luck. Maybe another member will remember. He made it so he could sift large quantities of soil, if I remember correctly but it would perhaps also work for compost.
Best thing I can recommend is to get some wood boards and make a decent sized square/rectangle and staple on some hardware mesh. Depending on whats in it and how fine you want to go, 1/4" or smaller maybe. Then, either get a friend or put it on a couple of sawhorses and shake and voila. Just make sure you secure it tightly and/or sift it with the mesh side up and the mesh wrapped around the edge and secured on the sides if you're going to sift alot of dirt. I worked on a couple archaeology digs and that's exactly what we did. If you want something multipurpose, try to size it to your beds or planting size, that way you can use it as a screen against birds/animals for small plants/new seeds, or put plastic across it and use it as a quasi-cold box. Good luck, let us know how you make out
One thing that you can do is to take an old wooden crate and knock the bottom out of it and then nail on some mesh the size you want. Here you can see the underside: ...and then the side showing the strip placed over the edge of the mesh to keep it secure and flat: ....and finally the inside of the crate. The cross piece is for stability and to keep the mesh from sagging. To use it you just take the sifter by both sides and shake it back and forth...and the compost falls through and you are then left with the clods, sticks and other debris held back by the mesh. Hope this helps and isn't too late. I just kept forgetting to take a pic of the old sifter. BTW--I also use this to lie onions on in order to dry.
I made one that is a little smaller than that out of 2x4s and some screening. It works well to get the big stuff out that would cause a raddish to grow like a mutant. I am glad you posted this though because if I ever make a larger one I would have never thought to add a middle support.
