The simplest would be 2x4s frame with a piece of hardware cloth attached to the bottom shake it over your wheelbarrow the best one I have seen on line had the shaker box sit on drawer slides on a separate frame that sat on your wheelbarrow so you didn't have to hold it up

Up close I've only seen people using home-made sifters constructed from mesh or hardware cloth screens attached to a wood frame laid on top of their wheelbarrows and powered only by human muscle. If you're looking for something that is not muscle powered or that can handle large volumes quickly I don't know what to suggest but I would not be surprised if other people on this forum have all sorts of ingenious devices.

Not a huge quantity - about 2 cu yards. The soil also contain larger boulders (about 20lbs each) but I guess they can be picked out by hand. Hand powered should be okay. I'm guessing anything that is powered is large and for handling large quantities.

Sounds like Jonas302's method would work for you. I know some people also recycle old window frames (from way back when window frames were made of wood) for the wood part. A friend of mine sifts larger quantities of soil onto a tarp and later shovels the soil with a plastic shovel so as not to damage the tarp. Those boulders could become the borders to your planting bed. Once you remove the rocks and boulders you will lose some depth so you will have room to add in compost or other soil or whatever materials you want or need.

Proabbaly the easiest way to do it would be hardware cloth attached to a 2x4 square frame with legs made up of 2x2's of some type of thing flaxible legs .several feet long so it's easy to shake.

I wonder if you could attach a cylindrical screen to an old washing machine and screen soil centrifugally.

I know this is a little bit different from what you requested, but I thought you might be interested in seeing this hand tool for removing rocks. I have had good experiences with this catalog / retailer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rock Rake @ Lee Valley

Buy 3 2" x 4" x8' pressure treated lumber and 1 piece of 1/2" x 36" x 5' Hardware cloth. Staple the hardware cloth to the 2 2" x 4" about 8" from one end which will be the top. Cut the other 2" x 4" about 1/4" longer than the distance between the 2" x 4" so it will stretch out the hardware cloth, and nail them in place placing them under the ends of the hardware cloth. Stand the frame up and position it against a wall at about a 45 degree angle.Place your wheelbarrow under the frame. Shovel the contents of the pile into 5 gallon buckets. Invert the bucket onto the hardware cloth and push up and down until contents of the bucket are gone, except the rocks, letting the dirt drop into your wheelbarrow. Good luck.

I got a BEAUTIFUL frame at a garage sale for $1.00. I stapled plastic hardware cloth to it and it's my sifter! Since it's so pretty, I can hang it on the fence and it looks like art!

If the rocks/stones are fist size or larger the hardware cloth might break apart at the weld. How large are these stones/rocks? Might be faster to just rake them out. Hire a couple of school kids?

Lloyd

One note of caution, if you use hardware cloth over a wheelbarrow, if using a shovel to push the dirt back and forth, make the cloth double thickness or don't push down too hard. If you do, you will have holes in your cloth.

Anyone tried this?

http://originalwheelbarrowscreener.com/screener.shtml

Probably a lot more expensive than the homemade ideas people have suggested but on the other hand this part of the project is just a tiny part of the overall job and I'm okay with spending the money to save time.

I posted some pics on another related thread I started.

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/soil/msg0415295517383.html?11

The description of the barrow screener says it is expanded steel so it might be strong enough.

I did see those pictures, sorry, I didn't notice you were the OP in both of these threads. Ya, those are fairly large stones so hardware cloth probably wouldn't survive.

I get steel screen of various sizes from a rock quarry but I have no idea where an average person could track them done.

What you really need is Jon with his Komatsu, he'd have that dug out in a jiffy. ;-)

Lloyd

Many hardware stores, as well as some of the large home repair stores (Lowes, Home Depot, Menards) carry the expanded metal screen as well as the hardware cloth. Expanded metal screening is often sold as a safety gate that can be installed on screen doors.

The best tool I have used and it is the cheapest (usually free) and easiest, is a milk crate. Low volume but it does the job beautifully. Sit it in the wheelbarrow, fill it up, lift and shake. Repeat.

I'm using an old door protecting screen of expanded metal over a wheelbarrow. It gets the stones of over 1/2 inch out easily.

Hardware cloth is not easy to damage unless you really pound on it with the shovel. I was using it, but the chunk was needed elsewhere. The advantage is that it comes in various mesh sizes.

Or, build a "trommel" from hardware cloth and bicycle wheels. it's my compost-sifting buddy.

Here is a link that might be useful: DIY Trommel sifter

I've made several of these screeners from 2x4s and 1/2" hardware cloth. The first one I ever made was 18"x24" and it was too small. The one I have now handles 2-3 shovels full of soil or compost and you can move it enough to cause the smaller particles to drop through the screen, or you can just move the material around on the screen with your hands to cause it to separate. The next one I make is going to have wheels on two of the legs and handles for ease of moving it.

You want your sifter box to sit up on legs constructed of 2x4's and bolted to the box with 3 heavy-duty lag bolts on each corner. The legs need to be long enough to allow your barrow to roll under it, but short enough to be a comfortable height to work in. To avoid material from sifting outside the tub, you can add a 'funnel' made of an old plastic coated table cloth tacked onto the outside bottom edge of the sifter box. Sew it into a tube about 15" long and the same diameter of the box at one end and about 2" narrower at each corner at the bottom. This will direct all the material into the barrow so you don't have the "good stuff" just falling into the yard.

Finish off your sifter with a couple coats of sealer so it will last as long as possible. I'm always surprised how often we use ours. We're on our fourth one now and I can tell you that the sturdier you build it to begin with the better you will like it, the better is will work, and the longer it will last. Cheryl

I have the screen in the link. It works well for my compost, but I don't know if it would stand up to 20lb rocks.

Here is mine, dirt cheap and pretty fast too ;-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Soil Sifter Trommel Cement Mixer

Even Cheaper

1"x 4" with 1/4" Hardware cloth stapled to frame

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I use an old grill from a Weber. Fits right over the wheelbarrow. Of course, this is just for small volume sifting.

I stopped by Home Depot tonight on my way home from work but the selection of expanded metal is terrible and the holes are too big. I will visit a steel yard tomorrow - they have 4' X 8' sheets for only $10 more than what HD charges for a 2' X 2' sheet plsu they have sheets with much smaller openings. I'm thinking of using two - one on top of the other - to help with the weight of the stones.

Home centers are great for many things - but I almost never buy metal such as angle, channel, plate etc there - tiny and over priced selection. A visit to the local steel yard is much better.

I use a milk crate too, and it handles NE Oklahoma rocks just fine. And when I get tired of sifting I flip it over and have a seat - it's a multi-tasker.

Rocks that weigh 20 lbs should be so large that I can't quite understand why you think you need a 'sifter' to find them. You're going to be digging your soil and shovelling it into the sifter anyway, isn't a rock that big going to kinda stand out on your shovel blade? I had a load of 'small granite boulders' delivered to my yard one time and the largest one was about 15" in diameter, but it still didn't weigh more than about 8 lbs. A 20 pounder is a big honkin' rock.

Now if these rocks are so heavy that you need two layers of expanded steel to support their weight in your sifter, maybe you should have your sifter welded together using steel I-beams for the box and the supports. That way you could use a bobcat to load your rock-laden soil into it. Now as far as 'shaking' out the good soil, it sounds like you may need a pneumatic vibrator (something like they use in commercial orchards to shake nuts from trees) to shake off the soil while retaining your rocks. You'll want to be sure to wear a hard hat, ear muffs, steel toed boots, strong leather gloves, protective breathing gear and eye goggles. Don't forget to set out a ring of orange cones around the work area and "Danger" signs every 10'. Hey if you're gonna spend money anyway...

Or, you could just build a little wooden sifter box and pick out the big rocks by hand like you said. Whew! Talk about a snow-ball! Cheryl