How to Sift Stones Out of Soil

Lay two pieces of 2-by-4 standard lumber on a table and use a pencil to divide them into four sections. Two sections should be 25 inches long and the other two sections should be 36 inches long.

Put on safety glasses and a dust mask and insert one of the pieces of lumber into a table clamp so one of the pencil lines hangs off the table. Use a power saw to cut through the pencil line. Repeat the process to cut each remaining pencil line until you have four pieces of wood.

Insert a 1/4-inch drill bit into a drill and create three equally spaced holes at both ends of the two 36-inch long pieces of wood. The holes should be 3/4 inch from the end of the board.

Stand one of the shorter boards up on its end and place a longer board on top of it with the screw holes aligned with the shorter board. Insert 3-inch deck screws through each of the holes as far as they will go with a screwdriver to secure the two boards together.

Install the other shorter board at the other end of the long one using the same method. Then turn the entire structure over and secure the last long board in place at both ends with six more deck screws. The final shape is a wooden rectangle.

Lay a roll of hardware cloth on top of the wooden box and secure one side to the wood using staples and a staple gun. Stretch the cloth to the other side of the box and cut off the excess with tin snips. Secure the remaining three edges to the wood using staples all the way around perimeter of the box.

Set the box on top of a wheel barrow with the wooden edge facing upward. Use a shovel to place 1 gallon of soil into the sifter.

Put on gloves and shake the wooden box back and forth to separate out the stones and sift the soil through to the wheelbarrow.

Remove the stones from the sifter and discard them. Add more soil and continue the process until you have sifted as much soil as you need.