| In
This Article:
A simple box is made from
treated 2x4's. Hardware cloth is fastened to the bottom and
extensions are added to keep the sifter box from sliding off
the wheelbarrow. |
Related
Articles:
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| Skill Level:
2 (Basic) |
Time Taken:
About 1.5 Hours |
By
Bruce W. Maki,
Editor
When doing yard and garden work I often find myself picking rocks
and debris from the soil. It's much easier and faster to use a sifter
screen to remove large chunks from dirt. I also wanted to screen
large pieces from the compost that I make every year.
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I wanted the soil sifter to be able to fit
easily on top of my wheelbarrows.
The plastic wheelbarrow (on the right) is wider than
the steel one, so I planned the dimensions of the sifter
box to fit the larger width. |
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Starting Point:
A Simple Box
I designed the length of the box to be 36
inches, which is the width of the hardware cloth I
bought.
I designed the width of the box to be 28
inches, which is the width of my widest wheelbarrow.
Since 2x4's are 1½" thick, the shorter boards
needed to be 25 inches long. |
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| I cut the treated 2x4's on a miter saw. |
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These are the 4 pieces of wood that I used
to make the box.
The longer 2x4's are 36 inches long, and the shorter
boards are 25 inches long. |
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| I pre-drilled 3 holes at each end
of the long 2x4's.
Nails or screws driven near the ends of a board
usually cause the wood to split. Pre-drilling the screw
holes will help prevent splitting.
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Tip:
Accurate Hole Location
I sometimes place a block of 2x4 aligned with the end
of my board. This makes it easy to estimate the center
of a 2-by board.
With holes accurately placed 3/4" from the end
of the board, I can ensure that my screws will go into
the center of the board below, and not poke
through the surface of the wood. |
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| To assemble the sifter box, I stood the
shorter pieces on end.
Then I placed the long board (which has the
pre-drilled holes) on top of the standing boards,
aligned the edges, and drove in 3-inch deck screws in
three places. |
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Of course, I could also assemble the box with all the parts
laying on a workbench. I did this "standing-up" method
because it allowed me to push on the boards to keep them in place.
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The completed box. |
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Cutting The Hardware Cloth:
There were three different widths of hardware cloth available at
Home Depot: 24", 36" and 48". I bought the 36"
wide hardware cloth, which was 60" long (5 feet).
| In a pinch, ordinary wire cutters can be
used, but this is painfully slow. |
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I used tin snips, which cut very
quickly and easily.
I cut the hardware cloth about 1/4" smaller than
the dimensions of the box.
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| Handling hardware cloth is a pain in the
neck. To make the material more manageable, I clamped
one end of the hardware cloth to the work table. |
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Tip:
For easier and safer storage of leftover hardware
cloth, I used a couple of cable ties (a.k.a. zip ties)
to keep the mesh from unrolling.
The edges of this stuff are sharp. |
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Fastening The Hardware Cloth:
| I began fastening the hardware cloth by stapling
the mesh to one side of the box.
I tried using an ordinary staple gun, but sometimes
the staples wouldn't go into the treated yellow pine
lumber. |
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A better tool was a 1/4" crown
pneumatic stapler. I used staples that were
7/8" long, though shorter staples would also work.
I drove staples about 2 to 4 inches apart.
These staples only need to hold the cloth until I do the
"real" fastening.
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| After I had fastened the hardware cloth on
one edge, I pulled the mesh tight by using a
small screwdriver as a prying tool.
I stabbed the screwdriver into the wood and leaned
it over (in the direction of the red arrow) to pull
the cloth tighter.
The hardware cloth was not exactly tight as a drum
(which would be ideal), but it was better than nothing.
Getting the mesh tighter would probably involve some
fancy fixtures. |
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In Hindsight...
I can see a way to make the mesh tighter. I could
have taken a block of 2x4 and driven in a row of small
nails (something with a head the size of a carpet tack),
leaving the nail heads sticking out by 1/4 inch
or so.
These nails would need to be spaced accurately apart
by 1 or 2 inches so they would grab the hardware cloth
in many places, thus spreading the force over more
points.
Then this pulling board would need to be
pulled relative to the box frame, and held while staples
were driven into the hardware cloth. |
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At this point I realized that the size I
chose for the hardware cloth wasn't very wise, because I
ended up folding the edges back anyway. I didn't
want sharp wires poking out the sides of the box.
It might be better to cut the hardware cloth about 1/2
inch smaller than the box dimensions, so the cut
ends are plenty far from the edges of the box.
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The Real Fastening:
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On the table saw, I cut a 1½"
wide strip from several pieces of 1x6.
I kept the remaining boards (which were about 4
inches wide) for later use.
I could have bought treated 1x2's, but I had the
1x6's in my stash of lumber. |
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| To hold the hardware cloth secure, I
fastened the 1x2's over the wire mesh.
Using this clamping board is a FAR BETTER
method of securing the hardware cloth than just staples
alone.
I used a pneumatic stapler with 1½" staples,
but this could be fastened with deck screws or small
galvanized box nails. |
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Deck screws would work too, but I would recommend pre-drilling
the holes to prevent splitting this narrow strip of wood. In fact,
using screws would be smarter, in case the hardware cloth gets
ripped and needs to be replaced someday. But I wasn't feeling smart
when I built this sifter.
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The bottom view of the sifter after
fastening the clamping boards. |
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| I could use the soil sifter at this point,
but it will keep falling off the wheelbarrow
because there is nothing to prevent it from sliding
around. |
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Improvements:
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To keep the soil sifter from sliding off
the wheelbarrow, I added a piece of 1-by treated lumber
to the sides of the box.
These boards were the leftover pieces I had
after I ripped those 1½" wide clamping boards used
earlier. But ordinary treated 1x4's would work just as
well. |
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| I made these side extension boards
extend about one inch below the bottom of the box, to
keep the sifter box from sliding off the wheelbarrow. |
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The sides and back had full-length
extension boards, while the front had short extenders
like this. |
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| Since the wheelbarrow was longer than my
36 inch long sifter box, I had to use these two short
pieces at the front.
With these extension boards, the sifter box won't
slide off the wheelbarrow at all, which makes it much
easier to use.
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The completed soil sifter, which fit
snugly on top of a wheelbarrow. |
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| To use the sifter, I dumped a couple of
shovel-loads of soil onto the screen and used a garden
trowel to wipe the soil back-and-forth, causing
the fine particles to fall through and the coarse chunks
(stones, sticks and roots) to stay on top.
If the soil is damp it requires more wiping. Dry
sandy soil falls through with little wiping required.
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While this sifter does a good job of separating larger stones
from the soil, small pebbles often fall through the 1/4" screen
holes. I suppose another sifter made from aluminum window screen
might work to further separate the pebbles from the fine soil. Maybe
I'll try that someday.
More Info:
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Tools
Used:
- Hammer
- Flat
Screwdriver
- Miter
Saw
- Cordless
Drill/Driver
- Staple
Gun
- Pneumatic
Stapler (Optional)
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Materials
Used:
- Treated
2x4x8' (2 pieces)
- 1/4"
Hardware Cloth, 3'x5' Roll
- Treated
1x6x10' (or 1x2 and 1x4 of appropriate
length)
- Staple
Gun Staples
- 1/4"
Crown Staples (Optional)
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