So my friend and his family had just moved into their new home not too long ago, and his aunt wanted us to build a compost box for a garden this spring. I like to help out with what I can so I went over there and the adventure began.

This is just another way to make a compost bin that is probably a lot more work than others, and I don't really recommend following our example, but we had a lot of fun making it and I wanted to share.

Step 1: Getting Materials

Since they just moved in, they didn't really have any tools so I grabbed the basics; my special hammer, a japanese pull-saw, some large screwdrivers, a speed square, some extra nails which proved necessary, and my rollerblades to get over there.

We didn't really have any specifications besides making what we could with what we had, so this was a very freeform project.
We were supposed to use wood from old pallets, but they didn't really have much and that would have been way too much work anyway to pry them apart without the proper tools, so we went and got wood from my house. I have a large pile of about 20" boards from a deck that my dad cut up and they are still quite useful so we grabbed about 30 of those and a few other boards as well.

The only tools we used were hammers, my pull-saw, and oh, a tape measure.

Step 2: The Design

My friends aunt didn't really care much about what it looked like, but you still need a plan of construction, so figured something out with the materials there.
I decided on two rows of the grey boards on each side supported by boards on the top and the middle, with 2x4s for each corner post.
Since we only had the one, not very sharp saw, it would have been a huge pain to cut each of those boards to a proper length, so we just threw them on there.
The board in the middle is about 20" down from the top.

Step 3: Throwing It All Together

After we fumbled about with the first side, the opposite one was a bit easier and for the back of it, we just held the sides up and nailed the boards to it in the air. We didn't have quite enough of the grey boards, however, so we just nailed on all of them and I think it needed about seven more, which my friend got later and put on himself.

I believe it is supposed to get painted at some point in the future, and I would recommend that to anyone with something as mismatching as this.

Step 4: Getting It From Point a to Point B

It was harder than it sounds. We were in the garage and we had to take to behind the house; through a wooden gate that was just too narrow. The fact that it was really heavy didn't help either. The board going across the top in the front had to come off to get it through, and the rest was just grunting work of moving it across the yard.

Step 5: Conclusion

Like I said, the rest of the boards got nailed on the next day or so, although I believe they still have yet to paint it, and if I waited until they did, this would never get posted, so you'll just have to use your imagination on how a strange old aunt would choose to paint this.

All in all, a pretty fun project. We got it more or less done in one night and got to blast music while doing so.
Again, this is more of a story than an instructable, but maybe it will be inspiring for you to do a better job than we did. Have fun!