Clarke Rotary Soil Sieve CRS400

We have a real issue where we are with soil quality....lots of stones and rubble which impacted our flowers' ability to take root and grow. An experienced horticulturalist recommended that I sieve the soil. As I looked through i came across this product. One of the other issues we have is hard lumpy clay soil too so I needed to break all this soil up. This was an easy product to put together (my teenage son did it) and was exactly what we needed. It does require some manual input as you turn the handle, but my teenage son found it easy and was actually quite a good work out. It successfully removed all large stones from the soil, and the weeds, allowing better quality, refined soil to fall in to the pan. We then combined the soil with some compost and, months later, have a garden with wonderful blooms and greenery. Of course, watering, compost soil top ups and weeding have helped, but the improved soil quality created by this rotary sieve definitely made a big difference. Also, after a couple of months use, it has held up well. So the old adage is true...you get what you pay for, and whilst this was not cheap, I would say it is really good value for money for those who have the same situation as me.

This worked really well I wasn’t expecting it to be as good as it is .

Most important thing I can tell you with this is to attach the screws and nuts to the drum in the opposite way that the instructions tell you to. This reduces the likelihood of contents catching. This is the only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5.This is a decent enough weight that it doesn't flail about whilst you're using it.I've previously hand sieved soil when digging out borders filled with glass and stone and weeds, and it wrecked my arms and back. This sieve meant that I could sit and relax and it took a fraction of the effort.In a few hours I had sieved a heckova lot of soil and it came through quite consistently.

This is an excellent garden item.It makes sieving soil so much easier.Easy to put together and use. Sturdy.It is good value for money.It is a quality item, made in Britain.I wish I had bought it years ago.

This is a serious bit of kit. Works really well. I use it to break up garden compost into fine pieces. I should have bought one years ago instead of shaking about a hand sieve.

Fantastic piece of kit for both allotment and garden. Not particularly strenuous work either for what it gets done. Within a few hours I had 3 barrow loads of a very fine, crumbly, stone-free soil for a raised bed. It really does get the job done very well.The unit itself is constructed very well and weighs a fair bit for its size so no expense spared on the strength of the metal used.2 bits of advise I'd like to give; the bolt that connects the arm into the rotary shaft is quite fiddly and a few minutes of trying will make you think the holes don't quite line up but they do. Just persist and you'll get there. Second thing worth mentioning is less is more. The less soil you put in the better it seems to filter the rubbish. You'll be tempted to fill it to the top but you'll only end up wasting more time when it comes to sorting through the spent soil remains.

This is a great sieve to use, the only problem with it is that the knob on the end of the arm doesn't rotate and so you get friction between your hand/glove which soon gets uncomfortable.I spoke to a helpful guy in Clarke's Technical Department who checked the assembly instructions and said that the knob was supposed to screw on. Mine arrived pre assembled so I'm not sure how it's attached - but I'd have thought that if it was screwed it'd screw off when it was being used.So overall, a useful device but let down by an important detail that would have been easy to solve.

It's strong and sturdy and does the job really well. I'm a short, 57 year old woman and had no problems lifting the sieve to empty stones etc, and our garden is giving up a LOT of stones. It's very easy to assemble with a crosshead screwdriver and spanners, although we did need two different sized spanners 8mm and 10mm, if I remember rightly. I'd recommend wearing some decent gloves if you have a lot of sifting to do so your hands don't get sore. Not surprisingly, dry soil was much easier to sift that wetter soil and it's easier to work with small loads of half the capacity of the sieve, or even less. It does take a bit of effort to operate if you have a lot of soil to process but I swapped hands regularly to even up the work my muscles were doing and definitely didn't need the gym afterwards. I would have liked to have some flat feet on the legs to prevent the legs from sinking into my vegetable beds, but other than that it's a really good basic bit of kit for the price and I recommend it. I do realise these are more hints and tips than a review but I hope they help with your decision.