Making a DIY Compost Tumbler

Composting is one of the best things you can do for your homestead. Recycling your produce scraps provides a renewable source of free food for your garden, while removing biodegradables from your trash bulk at the same time.

Surely a compost heap is the simplest and least expensive way to begin composting. This method is laid out well in Brett Markham's book, Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre. (This is a great resource for anyone starting out in their homesteading journey). For our situation, however, our yard backs up to several acres of woods, so I had to be sure that our compost wouldn't attract any unwelcome visitors. For this reason, I decided a compost tumbler would be the best option.

If you don't want to DIY this project, there are countless compost tumblers and other systems available for purchase online. But if you want a less expensive and more sustainable option, read on to learn how I made a simple compost tumbler with mostly free materials.

The first step I took to make the compost tumbler was to locate a 55 gallon food-grade poly drum. These are usually fairly easy to come across-- you will often find people trying to get rid of them on the marketplace for $20 or less. I procured my drum by making a post in our local online homesteading group, and I was lucky enough to find it for free. I cannot stress enough that if you take this route too, you must use a food-grade drum in the construction of your tumbler. Food-grade means the drum is able to contact products intended for human consumption, and usually means it originally contained food products. Since your compost will eventually be integrated into your garden soil, you do not want to use a drum that can potentially leach harmful chemicals into your compost.

Once I found the drum, I constructed a frame to support it that could also provide the tumbling action. I measured two lengths of pressure-treated 2x4s, and cut them just a little longer than the length of the drum. Next, I cut two shorter lengths for the width of the frame. When I screwed them together, I angled the two longer pieces against the drum, so it would create something like a cradle to hold the drum in place.

To create the tumbling action, I attached four casters to the angled pieces that would sit against the sides of the drum to allow it to rotate. Each end of the drum has a lip with a shallow groove where it ends. When attaching the casters, I placed them carefully so the wheels would fit right into the groove to keep the drum secure and in place as it turns.

When the frame was complete, I drilled holes at the corners of two adjacent squares on the side of the drum. The squares were easily cut with a jigsaw to become the doors for adding and removing compost. The doors were attached using a 36" piano hinge that I cut with tin snips so that each door would swing open independently. The screws I used to attach the hinge were too long and poked through to the inside of the barrel. With more patience, I would have drilled holes into the barrel and attached the hinge with machine screws and nuts. Time will tell if the screws begin to back out, at which point I will replace them with the more secure method.

After the doors were cut, I attached a latch to each one-- simply to keep the door closed, and not necessarily to hold it perfectly flush. The spaces around the door remained, which is not of concern, and actually advantageous since compost is aerobic and needs oxygen to decompose. Additional holes were then drilled to provide more air to the compost.

In the final step, I added two more lengths of 2x4s to the outside edges of the frame, and flipped the frame over and to add four 18" legs (also out of 2x4s) in the corners.

*As with all of my projects, I am not a professional and you should not follow my posts for professional advice. Remember to always use all recommended safety equipment and make sure you understand the instructions for your tools before you operate them.*