Soil Sifting (Minimizing Work)

[bschanding]

Hello,

Didn't see a board specific to soil, so I'm posting in general. Please feel free to move to new location...

I'm trying to get an early start on all the soil I'll need next spring, as I doubt I'll have the time later. Soil sifting is one of those few things in bonsai I've always disliked.

I wonder who out there has a method/device they use that might help in the following areas:

1) Dust inhalation/ingestion
2) Physical effort
3) Ergonomics

I often picture in my head different contraptions that might help:

-something like a compost spinner that has removable mesh wheels (each with different size mesh)
-a cart on wheels that would allow one to sit while simply shaking the cart back and forth
-something electric that vibrates enough to allow fine particles to fall through mesh

Anyone who has ideas/pics/blueprints, please post!

[plantmanky]

Bschandling,

George Buehler wrote a great Regional article on Soil that includes sifting. If you have not seen it, you can read it here using this link.

http://absbonsai.org/bonsai-articles/regional-care/113-testing-file

[MatsuBonsai]

Call me funny, but I find it relaxing to sift soil on a nice Summer evening. A cheap sifting screen kit and a few cement tubs to catch the debris, some laundry buckets to hold the mixed soil, and a dust mask to keep all the fines out of my lungs.

If you're into building mechanical contraptions, here's one I came across recently, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Kz_uTVPVc

[shipsquartersfarm]

I have used a wooden frame that, suspended from a rafter in a barn, could be shaken without too much back strain. Different size meshes can easily be exchanged. That works OK, but it is a slow process. I have considered cutting panels out of a plastic drum and replacing them with screen but have not yet attempted that. In a pinch, I clear fines from granite and Turface by pouring the component from bucket to bucket on a moderately windy day.

Not my favorite job.

[BillsBayou]

I built a sifting table with the following characteristics:

The table is built at a slant.
The table top is 6-feet by 2-feet.
The table top allows for the insertion of different sifting frames; window screen, 1/8" hardware cloth, 5-mesh hardware cloth, 1/4" hardware cloth, 1/2" hardware cloth
The table stands just over 2 feet high at the low end and nearly 4 feet high at the high end.
The low end of the table has no end wall to allow sifted material to roll off into a collection bucket.
I use utility tubs from Lowes (larger than masonry tubs) beneath the table to catch what falls through.
I mounted a bench grinder onto the high end of the table for vibration.
The table is made of 2x4 and 1x6 lumber.
The legs can be removed for storage.

As for the bench grinder, I broke off a portion of one of the grinding wheels. This causes serious vibration and gets the material moving! I bought a variable speed router control from Harbor Freight Tools to control the speed, and thus the vibration, of the table.

The wood was cut using a chop saw. Most of the cuts were standard left-right miter cuts for the slope of the table. However, the diagonal supports for the legs also required a side-to-side angle to get everything lined up.

This table causes a great deal of noise, so I use it in the middle of the day. I use a general use dust respirator, the kind with removable side cartridges.

Window screen gets out the dust. Screens up to 1/4-inch give me specific use sifting.

I use pine bark mulch marketed as soil conditioner as my organic component. It provides a good quantity of the right sized particles, but it can have some larger strips in there as well. After sifting the smaller particles out, I put on the 1/2" screen and hand sift (no vibration) the remaining pine bark by just rubbing it through the screen. The longer strips and sticks stay on top for me to remove.

I buy haydite 2-cubic yards at a time and store it in 44-gallon Rubbermaid Brute trash cans. I can sift an entire can of haydite in less than an hour, and that includes setting up the table and sifting the haydite twice.

I'll be purchasing another 2-yards of haydite soon. My goal is to sift it all BEFORE is store it. I've been lazy in the past and only sifted one 44-gallon can when I ran out of sifted material. I'll have to make note of how long it takes me to sift that much material, if the bearings in the bench grinder hold up, and if the neighbors call the cops on me for making an all-day racket-party.

I'll have to post photos as well.

[cglanton]

I too find it very relaxing to sift summer nights, or in the shade. Instead of having to wear a mask though, I just setup a fan behind me and it blows the dust totally away from me as I sift. Works for a smaller collection, I like the 6'x2' bed idea BillsBayou suggested if I had to sift a lot of material.

[calculus1979]

Bill, I would love to see some pictures and or video. I have built a two-tier rocker that I take out to a lava rock quarry and can sift two sizes at once. However, it is still very much manual labor and very dusty. My departed sensei in Florida had built a motorized sifter table, but I wasn't smart enough at the time to figure out how it worked.
Thanks,
Brian