Turned out in practice that the 2.67 cu. ft. amounted in fact to about 3 and a half buckets. What I wound up doing was mixing in 4 buckets of each ingredient – the proportions being the most important thing – and dumping that in my frame. Left me with about half a bucket of Mel’s Mix to spare.

Clearly the procedure wasn’t exactly precise. Then again, this ain’t tool and die work.

In any event, it turns out to be easier for me to find 5-gallon plastic buckets than 1 cu. ft. boxes. Go figure.

I doubt that this would fill up a full five-gallon Home Depot bucket one time (I use one as a trash can).

Thanks for dropping the science here, Larry!

I’ll likely implement your suggestions about 2 open chicken-wire cylinders. They seem pretty useful. One of those 55-gallon plastic barrels is another intriguing concept – that was actually the original “roll the composter around the yard to turn” design.

Also I’m finding sundry uses for chicken wire, so will be getting a roll soon anyway.

No way you’re going to roll a 3′ X 3′ structure anywhere. Especially one made of chicken wire. Plus all your compost would fall out through the wire, leaving a trail you’d have to re-gather.

My suggestion: Make two 3′ cylinders of wire, with no top or bottom, set em up on their flat ends. Fill one. When it’s time to turn, lift the wire off and fork the compost pile into the other one. Rinse and repeat…

I may yet try taking some pictures. Sadly, all I have available is my little cellphone camera. So we shall see how that plays out.

Anyway, the composter is made from a bin that closely resembles the trash caddies the City of ABQ wished upon us all to roll the garbage out to the curb. It’s a tall box on wheels, basically. So turning entails emptying it out and then refilling it.

When it’s got a lot of stuff in it, especially wet stuff, it requires a considerable deadlift to dump it out. Then everything has to get shoveled wherever it’s gonna go: whether straightaway back into the bin, or to the screen to sift it into a wheelbarrow, with what doesn’t sift getting dumped back in the bin. Reasonably arduous, yes.

Now, for a first attempt the trash-bin composter works fairly well, meeting my three main criteria of: 1) Cheap, 2) Fast, and 3) Actually makes compost. Still, I’m thinking of whipping up a 3′x3′ cylindrical bin out of chicken wire and trying that. Maybe, following that suggestion I read, I can turn it by actually rolling it about the yard.

Stay tuned. And, uh, once again: any suggestions on how to dry out the composting mass so I can sift it, please hit me with ‘em.

And thanks again!

Next: we get Mosquitoman in!