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KimTexan

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I need to go back out to the bison site and sift for the feet bones and fragments and whatever else I may find.


 

I looked on Amazon to see what they had, but they were ridiculously priced. This was one of the cheaper ones. It is 22 x 11 inches. Mine is 22 x 15 inches.
 

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I asked around about people who might have a screen. I determined I could build one for the cost of gas to go get it. 
 I don’t watch DIY TV shows. I don’t watch TV unless it’s with my kids. 

 

Granted, it may not be fancy or pretty, but it will be functional.


 

This is a really simple project if you have the tools, material and time. My sifter is for sifting for bones and bone fragments. But if you’re sifting for stuff in rivers or for shark teeth, this would work, but you’d need a smaller size mesh.


 

I went to Home Depot to get a piece of lumber. I chose a 2.5” x 3/4” x 8’ piece. I paid $1.88 I think.

I have a Toyota Camry - not exactly the lumber carrying car, but the back seats fold forward so I folded one forward and slid the piece in the trunk. The end reached up to my gear shift by the console.


 

Tools and Materials 


 

Electric drill

1/8” drill bit

Jig saw and blade 

1.5” wood screws

1” nails

19 gauge wire mesh 1/2 inch, 24” x 15” 

Tin snippers

Hammer 

Pliers 

2.5” x 3/4” x 8’ piece of wood 

Ruler or measuring tape

pen or pencil 


 

I had everything, but the right size wood. So the screen basically cost me $1.88 since I had all the other stuff on hand. Plus about 45-60 minutes of time, most of which was messing with the screen. 


 

The screen I had was 24 inches wide. I wanted to fold the wire edges up on the inside of the frame so the edges wouldn’t snag, scrape, cut or gouge me, my car or clothes. So I determined I wanted my frame to be 22” long x 15” wide so it would be able to fit in my large backpack.

I laid the wood out on the floor and measured 22” and drew a line across the width of the wood. I repeated that and then measured 15” and drew lines for that times 2. 
 

I’d needed to make 4 cuts. I took my jig saw outside to my patio and laid the lumber across the arms of a patio chair to make a makeshift sawhorse.  I cut along each of the 4 lines I’d drawn.

 

I came inside and drilled two holes in each end of the 15” pieces. I pre-drilled so that I didn’t end up splitting the wood since it is a bit narrow.
 

I removed the drill bit to put in a Phillips screwdriver bit. I put the screws in and drove the tips out the other side, just barely poking out, maybe 2-3 mm.

I lined up one end of the 15” pieces with the end of a 24” piece.

I took my hammer and gave the end of the 15” piece with screws in it a tap to make the screws leave an indentation on the end of the 24” piece so I’d know where to drill. I did this for all 4 ends keeping straight which end would match up with which piece. The piece I used to hammer had to be the end I would screw in so the holes would align perfectly with the screws.

I swapped out the Phillips tip for the drill bit. I drilled the 8 holes. I then switched back to the Phillips tip and screwed in the 8 screws.  In maybe 20 minutes I had my frame made. Making the 16 drill holes is what took the longest for the frame building. My drill is cordless and the battery was running a little low so it wasn’t super powerful.

 

Here is the frame. I am bad about doing these projects indoors and on my rugs. I don't want to damage the wood floors and it was below freezing outside. So, I have sawdust on the rug.

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I got my roll of 19 gauge wire and measured out 15”. Since the wire is like a grid it made it easy to follow the lines and cut the wire. The wire mesh is unwieldy though. The tin snippers are pretty powerful so cutting through the wire wasn't hard at all. It was the trying to bend it out of the way as I cut it so that I didn't gouge myself with the sharp ends of the wire. Here are the tin snippers cutting the wires. They worked really well.

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After I cut the wire then I cut the edges so that I could fold them in to fit inside the box. You can see the cut 2 squares in. I folded the screen up to a 90 degree angle 3 squares on the end and 1 square on the side.

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I tried bending the wire a few different ways. I tried laying under the edge of the frame and pulling it at a 90 degree angle. That kind of worked, but didn't get the 90 degree angle I wanted. I ended up using a pair of vice grips to bend it to the 90 degree angle. I worked quite well and was easy to bend. Like this:

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Once I got all the edges bent to a 90 degree angle more or less I pushed the screen into the frame. Then to fix it in place I nailed in 1 inch nails maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the way and then hammered over at a 90 degree angle to pin the wire in place. A staple gun would have been so much easier, but I don't have one of those. You can see my nails holding the wire in place, folded over. I think the screen part took me maybe 30 minutes, longer than cutting the wood and drilling holes to building the frame.IMG_9070.JPG.2bd6828c6091696380fadf58532322ca.JPG

 

 

This is my finished screen. Nothing fancy, but sturdy and hopefully functional. I might add some little metal handles on the ends. I hope to make it out to the bison site tomorrow.

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My daddy is not on TFF, but I'd still like to thank him for teaching me how to do so many things. Being able to build or repair stuff seems to be becoming more of a lost art. People don't seem to know how to do things anymore. Bless my dad for taking the time to teach me and insist I sit and watch him fix or build things. I did not always want to, but I am so thankful he insisted. It has benefited me enormously throughout my life and as a home owner. He also made me go fix stuff too. I didn't have to know how to do it before starting. I just had to learn and do it. He had me rebuild a carburetor once when I was maybe a sophomore in high school. I'd never seen it or done anything like it before, but he had taught me enough for me to wing it. I did it and it worked great after I rebuilt it.

 

Edited by Kane
Removed comments that could be construed as genderist and/or sexist
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17 minutes ago, Sagebrush Steve said:

Nice job.  looks good to me, let us know how it works.

Thank you. You’re the master builder on here Steve. I’m always impressed by your skill and artisanship. 

 

Considering it was raining the day I went back out there I didn’t expect it to work that great.  I need to go back when it’s warmer and dryer. I did find 3 other pieces, but not through sifting.

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Nice work!

I made mine, too--years ago--not as nice -looking, for sure, but totally functional.

Here's an extra touch I added for river wading: I bought one of those styro "noodles" you can get at the Dollar Store. I sliced it into 4 pieces, and attached one to each outer side with those plastic ties cops use instead of handcuffs. That way.I don't drop it, and I don't have to carry it. I got smart enough to snap on a dog leash , after  it took off ahead of me the first time!

 

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2 hours ago, caldigger said:

Great tutorial. 

I write a lot of protocols at work. I need to quit bringing my work home with me. LOL

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2 hours ago, Barby said:

Nice work!

I made mine, too--years ago--not as nice -looking, for sure, but totally functional.

Here's an extra touch I added for river wading: I bought one of those styro "noodles" you can get at the Dollar Store. I sliced it into 4 pieces, and attached one to each outer side with those plastic ties cops use instead of handcuffs. That way.I don't drop it, and I don't have to carry it. I got smart enough to snap on a dog leash , after  it took off ahead of me the first time!

 

I don’t think there is any place to do river sifting around here. Maybe the POC, but I’d need a finer mesh for there. The smallest shark tooth I’ve found came from there. It might have been 3 mm.

I thought about floatation devices. It may not be pretty, but my thought was to attach 20 oz Gatorade bottles to the edges.

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Nice sifter! I like to put metal corner braces in all four corners. That makes it possible to use thinner wood. When wet sifting, it makes for a lighter frame overall.

Its been fun reading about your bison project, BTW.

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Will be making this later this week thanks!

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"Life is too complex for me to wrap my mind around, that's why I have fossils and not pets!":tff:

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