---
title: "The Importance of Visual Communication, or How to Build a Dirt Sifter"
date: 2010-09-06
description: "$( document ).ready(function() { // Handler for .ready() called. $("
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2010/09/06/the-importance-of-visual-communication-or-how-to-build-a-dirt-sifter/
---
# The Importance of Visual Communication, or How to Build a Dirt Sifter
I searched online to find instructions to build a dirt sifter. There are plenty of sites, with no one single method for building a dirt sifter. For the most part, it involves a rectangular wood box with a wire mesh bottom. That sounds simple enough, but as I walked through Home Depot looking for these parts, I had many questions. What size should the box be? How spacious should the mesh be? Would the dirt sifter fit snugly on my wheelbarrow or slide off? Would I shake it in my hands? Would I roll it somehow? If I rolled it, did the sifter need wheels? How strong did I need to attach the wire mesh to the wood? And so on.

I did some research online to figure out how to build a dirt sifter. One guy had a [sweet looking roller device on his dirt sifter](http://www.nifty-stuff.com/compost-sifter-screen-sieve.php), but no real instructions on how to build what he's showing. Another site had [one incredible diagram](http://www.canadianliving.com/crafts/home_and_garden/make_a_compost_and_soil_sifter.php) but not much else. [Others](http://rss.cbwebspace.com/how-to-build-a-dirt-sifter.html) failed to provide any visuals whatsoever.

It's not enough to build a box with a mesh bottom. You have to understand exactly how you'll be using it to sift the dirt. Shaking it manually? Using a trowel in a wheelbarrow? Somehow rolling it? If you're shaking it in hand, you better have a plan for catching the dirt, and the whole box should be small and light. But if you're catching it in a wheelbarrow, it needs to fit over the wheelbarrow, so it needs to be larger.

It wasn't until I found [the explanation on this site](http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/landscape/tools/sifter/soil.htm) that I began to understand exactly how to build the dirt sifter. The explanation is full of photos for each step of the way. The author doesn't assume much at all, and he even provides tips such as the following:

> 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.

I wasn't born with innate handyman talent, so I needed all the info I could get. After buying the necessary resources and tools, I gathered them up in my backyard.

![Gathering my tools.](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/DSC_0001-Medium-600x401.jpg)

I started screwing the box together. It seemed pretty easy at first. I drilled holes just like the instructions recommended.

![It seemed pretty easy at first.](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/DSC_0005-Medium-600x401.jpg)

But then my wireless drill's battery wore down, and I grew impatient, so I started to pound a nail in there instead. Ooops, the wood split.

![The wood split when I used a nail.](https://s3.us-west-1.wasabisys.com/idbwmedia.com/images/DSC_0006-Medium-600x401.jpg)

I had to discard that piece of wood and use another scrap that I had a lying around the garage.