These directions will help you build a bucket thresher, a simple tool for cleaning seeds. A 5 gallon bucket thresher is an appropriate capacity for a medium garden to a small farm. At 2025 prices, materials are around $20.
If you prefer a video tutorial, you can find one Here
If you want a kit for the small parts you can purchase one Here
Materials list:
1 5-gallon bucket with lid that is easy to put on and remove
~24" of 3/8" threaded rod
2 3/8” nuts. In the photos, i use 1 nylon lock nut and 1 regular nut, but using 2 nylon lock nuts is better.
1 heavy 2" washer (either 3/8” - 1/2” interior hole will both work. If you can’t find a heavy washer, an additional 2” x 3/8” washer will work)
4 18" pieces of weed whacker string
Tools:
Something to cut threaded rod (or have an employee cut the rod to the right length at the hardware store)
Drill bit approximately the same size as the weed whacker string
Drill Press or Power Drill (you will need a drill to run the thresher)
Wrenches and/or Vice Grips
File, sandpaper or other tool to remove burrs after drilling (optional)
Assembly:
1. Drill 8 holes in the heavy washer based on this pattern. Use a drill bit the same diameter as your weed whacker string (slightly larger is ok). A drill press does this job very easily, if you don’t have access to one, it’s probably a good idea to clamp the washer to a piece of scrap wood for easier drilling.
2. Thread a nut onto the rod an inch or two and add one plain washer. In this picture, I have used a regular nut, but a lock nut would be better.
Fold your weed whacker string pieces in half and poke the ends through the holes you drilled in the heavy washer.
Slide string + washer assembly onto the rod, followed by the other plain washer, then a lock nut.
With one lock nut at the bottom end of the rod, tighten the other nut towards it, sandwiching the washers together. As you tighten, ensure that the weed whacker strings are evenly spaced and pointing away from the rod. I find it easiest to hold the rod with vice grips and tighten the nut with a wrench.
Drill a hole in the center of the bucket lid, big enough for the threaded rod to go in and out easily. This hole will get pretty chewed up with regular use, but you can easily reinforce it by drilling another hole in a scrap of plywood and affixing it to the lid with short screws. You can add an additional washer to make it even more durable.
Use:
Place unthreshed seeds in the bucket. If they are attached to a lot of plant material, you may want to hand pick the pods/capsules off, or run them through a ½” screen.
Poke the bucket thresher through hole in the lid, and put the lid on the bucket.
Insert the rod into the chuck of your power drill, and tighten the chuck.
Put one foot on the bucket and run the drill while moving thresher up/down and side to side. Easily threshed seeds may only need 10-15 seconds, tougher seeds may need more. If there is excessive plant material in the bucket, you might need to remove it and thresh again. The highest speed on your drill may damage delicate seeds, start on slow or medium with unfamiliar seeds and move to faster speeds as needed.
These seeds are now ready to winnow using screens, an Open Source Seed Cleaner, bowls and wind/fan or other methods. For more info see this video
Extra Tips:
this design works for wet cleaning as well! If you are careful you can skip the lid when doing wet cleaning.
For faster threshing you can build 2 thresher heads on the same rod.
If you prefer, you can use wooden discs instead of metal washers, which leaves room for more weed wacker strings and works a little faster.