Sifting through dirt

[kacole]

I cleared some land and got most of the brush burned off. Now I'm left with a bunch of piles of dirt with small pieces of wood in them. I have a grapple that I've used to shift through and get the large stuff out. What can I use to get the small stuff separated. I looked at on of the top soil screeners on YouTube but they look pretty expensive to build especially it you are going to put a motor on it to make it a shaker style. Dont know how effective it would be without it being a shaker. I also thought about one of the rock buckets for the fel although I dont know how well they work. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[cglaser104]

Year's ago when my dad built his house on limited funds he made sifting boxes out of chicken wire and 2x4's on some wooden stands. He would use my grandfather's old David Bradley walk behind tiller to break up the clumps and then use my uncle's Case 646 which was a garden tractor with a loader to scoop and dump the material through the boxes. My grandfather also had a couple of Economy garden tractors with Cat0 lifts on them with some old-school pull implements to regrade the freshly sifted dirt. It took some time and family help but it did great and got all the stones and big debris out of the dirt.

 

[oldballs]

How about tilling or plowing etc harrowing the top soil, then using a landscape rake to gather the bigger stuff. Quit right there and let nature decompose the rest. Just a thought....maybe depends on how fine you want it.
Cheers,
Mike

 

[countrybumpkin]

How big of a area are you talking about, that would have a lot to do with what I’d use?

 

[Diggin It]

I think it depends on what you want to do with the area. Level it, run over it with a landscape rake as mentioned to pull the bigger pieces out, then let it go natural.

 

[kacole]

The main areas I have are piles I've pushed with a grapple. Lots of wood in them but way too much dirt to burn. I have probably 5 piles probably 6' deep 20' long and 8' high

 

[kacole]

Some of the piles was raked up with a landscape rake. Would like to make a yard out of the area so I would like to get rid of the piles

 

[Diggin It]

Between the grapple, loader bucket, rake, maybe a back blade or other tools, you should be able to level the dirt and separate out the wood to better burn piles. When I burn brush, there isn't enough wood left to need to deal with. It's nearly all fine ash. I don't introduce a lot of dirt into the piles to begin with. Even stumps are left out in the rain to wash the dirt clods off before burning.

 

[countrybumpkin]

Then you need to take the grapple, grab a load and shake the dirt out and make a new brush pile to burn.

 

[kacole]

I've done that (messy job) but most of the stuff I need to remove fall through the tines. my tines are spaced probably 8" apart

 

[countrybumpkin]

No one said it was a clean job. You can make a cheap shaker screen , just google home built shaker screens, lots of pics and videos. Another thing you could try is lining the grapple with pieces of hog panel or similar materials, just use a heavy wire or rope to tie them to the grapple, this would allow for catching the smaller pieces.

 

[BukitCase]

CB, thanks for that suggestion; once I finish my home-built QA system for the ol' 580B I have a heavy grapple that'll be part of the "arsenal" - also have a possible source for used screens from a friend's quarry, AND an occasional need for a way to screen similar stuff :thumbsup: ... Steve

 

[jeff9366]

I have 5 piles probably 6' deep 20' long and 8' high. Lots of wood in them but way too much dirt to burn.

Consider bucket clamp-on Ultraforks, also known as Manure Forks. Tines are round, should shed dry dirt. Tines unscrew so you determine spacing, within limits. Five inch spacing between tines with thirteen tines. Consider 24" length for your sieving task.

LINK: Multi-Spear Ultra Fork

 

[PA hayseed]

Year's ago when my dad built his house on limited funds he made sifting boxes out of chicken wire and 2x4's on some wooden stands. He would use my grandfather's old David Bradley walk behind tiller to break up the clumps and then use my uncle's Case 646 which was a garden tractor with a loader to scoop and dump the material through the boxes. My grandfather also had a couple of Economy garden tractors with Cat0 lifts on them with some old-school pull implements to regrade the freshly sifted dirt. It took some time and family help but it did great and got all the stones and big debris out of the dirt.

I did the same thing when I moved my house and had a lot of STONES with some dirt in it. I would advise against solely using chicken wire. I built mine with some 4x4's, 2x4'x, some galvanized fencing (2x2 or 2x4) and then chicken wire over top of it. I left one side open on the bottom. I would til up the dirt with my 3pt tiller, turn around and scoop up some in my bucket, then dump it slowly over my screen. I would repeat this process until the screen got too full of debris, then I would remove and keep doing it until the dirt hit the bottom of the screen. Then I would scoop and place where needed. Make sure you build your screen wider than your bucket, don't ask, trust me, at least 1' wider but you should go about 2' more. I would make the screen at least 4' deep. DUMP slowly. Only do this when dry, the wet stuff won't separate.

It speeds things up if 1) you have helping hands clearing the screen and 2) you have a tub, bucket, box pallet near the screen to put in the debris, and 3) if you turn the piles of dirt over a day or two ahead of time to kill off weeds and help dry the soil. (big weeds clog your screen).