Originally posted in February 2004
How I made a large riddle to sieve lots of soil.
All measurements are in Imperial because I have not yet mastered metric. And they are approximate since I used what was at hand.
Using 1.5 in by 1in roofing lath timber I constructed a rectangle of 5 feet by 3 feet. The corners were butt jointed and strengthened with corner brackets. (This size was made because that was the size of piece of chicken wire I had available.)
I stapled a sheet of 1/2 in chicken wire stretched tightly to the frame. To give more stability and to stop the mesh sagging I also stretched straining wire every foot across and down, woven through the mesh.
Then I fastened legs of same size timber to the top of the frame so that it sloped about 60 degrees. (Need to experiment to find best angle). When in use I also used a couple of tent pegs to stop the frame moving backwards when soil was thrown at it.
Dry (and it needs to be dry) soil is thrown (not too hard) at the top third of the frame. As it trickles down larger than wanted pieces stay on one side and smaller pieces go through.
If you wanted a more robust and longer lasting gadget than you could use the wire mesh sold for outside aviaries.
The angle of the legs should be such that the soil trickles down and breaks up as it goes, too shallow and it sticks, too steep and it falls off.
This does not work on wet or clay soil. Sorry, but then neither does the old fashioned garden sieve. Either way it is stii hard work, But at least you do not have the weight of the soil to lift as in a conventional system.
Now watch the experts come up with a better idea.
Photos not available, this film was lost be developers, before digtal too.
