The Compost Bin

Well, I thought it was finished, but it wasn't.  The tops were heavy to lift.  And keeping them lifted meant lifting them totally up and over to rest on the fence.  Which annoyed me.

And then I had a totally wicked idea.  Counterweights...

The tops took 17 pounds of upward pressure to lift before (I weighed the lifting pressure with a fishing scale).  So I screwed 2"x4"x6' boards to the tops and added some 6"x6"x53" posts left over from building the new decks (I save scraps and this is why).

Here are the bins now.

The 6"x6" posts are attached to the boards.  I used two 7" lag screws anchored with fender washers up into the posts per board.  Those posts won't ever come loose!

The weight of the posts is perfectly matched to the weight of the tops.  Instead of  17 pounds, I can lift the tops with a finger.

And close them just as easily!

The tops sit upright on their own...

The front slats lift out for easy access to the compost contents.

The slats have small pieces of wood as spacers...

That fit into slots I created by sandwiching a 2"x4" board between two 1"x6" boards ...

 All the sides have braces...

And I even have a barrel of dirt to shovel a couple inches into the bin after every 6" of compostable material.