How to Make a $5 DIY Compost Sifter EASY! 

Homemade $5 Compost sifter. Simple, quick, and cheap! #gardening #garden #compost #diy #gardendiy

Luke, I found with mine that it was a lot less tiring to just put the soil in then rake it back and forth with my hands. That also gives you the advantage of finding the large pieces to break up or through out, the smaller pieces fall through. I did make a sifter track for it to run in, but same problem, it wore me out. Just a thought, Kim. FYI great job, you're good working with wood ;-)

This weekend my grandson and I will make our compost sifter and bed garden that is thanks keep up the great work.

Good job. Done flawlessly. I did mine very similar. I used scrap 2x4s from a fence build. They were pressure treated (maybe not the best idea, but maybe it will make it somewhat weather proof). I don't have a car and only had $10 at the time, so I picked out the 4 pieces of scrap wood. I wanted it to be rectangular, so I picked out the longest 2, cut the longest one to the same size as the second longest one to make the longer side. Went to home depot with my mom (saw some nice crab apple trees there) bought 1/2 inch mesh. Borrowed a Drill, impact driver, 4 hex/star screws and tins nips and put it together. Still had some staples from the fence build but not much, so I had to use a staple gun to compensate. My long side of the sifter isn't that much longer than the short side, so it is closer to a square but it matches the wheelbarrow fine. I left one 2x4 6 inches long so that it could stick out 3 inches on both sides so that I can maybe hang it up like that. I could cut those ends off later if I decide that I don't need that, but so far I like it because it gives it a little foot that I can stand it on when dumping the half decomposed stuff back in the new pile. The compost that I have been sifting out is nice and this is my first compost harvest ever. It is dark like coffee, looks rich and fertile and smells like a forest floor. All of our compost smells like that when it's in the later stage because the bulk of it is organic yard waste like lawn clippings, brown birch leaves and birch sticks. All of our kitchen waste goes in it too but I can see how if we were limited to just using kitchen waste, the pile wouldn't be as big.

Thanks! I love this, i have no knowledge about basic carpentry, this helps a lot.

This is something I really need in my garden. I'm so glad I found your video. Time for me to get to work. Thanks for the tips. You are awesome. 👍🌻🌻🌼🌼🌱🌱😀😀

I watched a few other video clips. Yours was the best. Thank you.

This is great! I just started composting recently and have been looking for a way to sift it. I will probably make a smaller version of this- maybe 1.5ft x 1.5ft like you suggested.

Great tips! I made and used one today for $7.99...a wonderful addition to the garden! For those asking about size, mine is 18" by 38".

Fantastic job!

Great sifter, thanks Luke.

Great little build :) Thanks for sharing!

Nice concept. If I might make a suggestion, screw some 1x2 boards on the bottom side of the frame over the wire and the sift will slide across your wheel barrow and take out a lot of the back labor involved.

I bought some compost at the end of last year on sale and its full of wood debris, which really needs to be sifted out. So this is perfect, and you just made it so simple and inexpensive. I'll be using some pallet wood for mine, it was free, and I already have the staples, screws, and some nails if needed. All I have to pay for is the mesh. The cheapest I found in my area (Central FL) was at the local big box store for $6.97 plus tax, so I guess the cost depends on where you live. But it's still a really good deal. Thanks for the tutorial Luke:)

I went and got the wire at Menard for $ 2.99 I already have the wood can't wait to put it together thanks.

Great video Luke and cool idea

That's a really cool idea. Looks like it works great :-)

Thank you!

I did this with some 2 by 4s and chicken wire. I need a finer sifter though, great video!

Awesome, with those we can make different sizes. Thanks

I built this in under 1 hr and it works great! Wish I could share picture.

What is the frame size you made? Sound was in & out.Thanks for sharing this project.

You do such amazing content.

thank you!

That is a really simple sifter to build, I'm going to give this a go, Thanks for the video Luke.

Great, informative, excellent video! Made one of these for my pine pellet cat litter. Along with another video, it helped me navigate the tools/skills I needed to build one of these myself. ZERO carpentry experience, but with YOUR video + a few extra tools purchased from local lumber mill, I came out with a complete cat litter sifter designed for 4 litter boxes & 4 cats! Saves me HOURS of work and $$. Love the accent too, adorable! Thank you for your work!

Very cool!

I just started experimenting with compost at the end of last summer. This will be great.

If worried about edges add some galv corner for roofing.

Great beginner DIY project. Only suggestion I'd have is if you're sifting over a wheelbarrow, make the sifter the same width to avoid spill over. I just use an old milk crate which works fairly well, but have been considering making something a bit bigger with a finer mesh. Thanks for the reminder to get on with it!!

Your setup looks nice but I have just one question what was the dimensions of your unit he did not say that in your video

When you make a sifter that big, turn it the long way of your wheelbarrow, put some heavy duty palm leather gloves on, and use your hands to move the bad dirt around. Will save you a lot of aches and pains in your back, arms, wrists, elbows and knees! Great video!

Awesome

Nice one Luke

Hi Luke, looking great. I like the closeup clips. I made a similar box for making hand made recycled paper. I'd be curious what others uses a framed mesh box might have around the garden. Also it's great to see you not using plastic! Very nice. Have a great day!

I made mine 2 feet wide and stapled it and it fits perfectly over the wheel barrow

Awesome guitar sounds please share name of band ?cheers

Great tutorial, Luke! I need to make one of these for my worm castings asap. ~Karen :)

Hey Nice video! But what really piqued my interest was the music you played while cutting the wood. I saw in an earlier comment you said it was "Happy Fiddler" but I haven't been able to find it at all. Would you happen to have the complete sound file you could send to me?

LOVE THIS been needing one so now I make it. 1 question what is the name of the song that is playing as the background....LOVE IT

Well done and narrated. Watching you sift makes my back ache.

A good cover for small raised bed

GREAT Idea just found out there is a compost site in my town Homemade $5 Compost sifter. Simple, quick, and cheap! #gardening #garden #compost #diy #gardendiy

I've used a trowel or shovel to shift it around, or heavy gloves.

You're definitely going to want to put that thing on caster wheels and build some rails to slide it on (i build my rails to fit my wheel barrow).

What is the intro song?

Good method for cleaning up the compost. You can add longer 1x2 runners length-wise to the bottom of the frame to reduce friction on the wheel barrels top edge. Also the runners can let you sift in the long direction of the wheel barrel so that everything that drops through stays in the barrel.

I saw a guy put like skis on it and you can slide it back and forth over your wheel barrow

Thank you!!! I appreciate this

Luke, I have a ton of Earth worms in my yard, should I start keeping them? Suggestions?

Anyone finding a roll (let alone a sheet) of hardware cloth for $5 or under? 👀

Never use "tin" snips/aviation/left/right snips to cut round steel (anything softer than steel is fine), reason being is that it makes a very small round mark on the cutting edge that gets bigger over time even if you're cutting sheet metal, and if you cut sheets metal with a dull part in the edge then you're not going to get very straight or uniform cuts.

By the way, the light weight pine wood pieces can be gotten in the lumber area of any Home Depot for Free, so that's always a good thing. Happy composting.

nice to be that young and have so much time left. How about improving it for older people

Well done, but to me, should be exact size of wheelbarrow so none falls off the sides onto ground and wasted - as sifted compost is precious. Just measure the width and length of wheelbarrow then make it that size, rest it on top, put lots of compost in and rub it in, back and forth, with gloves on. Goes fast. Dump remains that didn't go through sieve into new compost pile.

add a little hook to each corner, get some rope or string and tie it a branch.

The hardware cloth alone would cost me close to $5. I'm still interested in making one even if it costs me considerably more.

Very "Proper" indeed :)

I bet you have a huge honey do list from your other half. Is there anything you can't do?? This was a great tutorial.

An angle grinder would make cutting that mesh a whole lot faster.

No longer 5$ due to wood prices skyrocketing

inflated prices of wood make this a $20 project now. thanks goodness for scrap.

Nice Luke. Here's the one I did - very similar: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-oXu6QqoMlM8.html

It would work better above your wheelbarrow if you put wheels under it and 2 4x4s on top of your wheelbarrow for the wheels to ride on. That's how I do it & it's MUCH easier & MUCH more productive.

Nice quality but not very helpful if you’re trying to replicate

How do you have million subs and you don’t even know what hardware cloth is?

I have done very similar with Stodoys designs.

Ouch... The music is way too loud! Please do try to put the sound a bit more even between music and speak. Thank you.

I cringed when he used the tin snips. Side cutters are a better tool.

Volume is too low

This was 5.00 for you. That doesn't mean it's 5.00 for most.

you have the greatest gift on talking s--t and saying very little. did you realize that? and you get two thumbs down====well earned