Rodent Resistant Composter

Step 2 Make Angle Template

Geometry Time

Creating a nice cylinder with a folded bottom is easy and it creates a beautiful star shape.  The trick is to calculate exactly how many degrees each tab needs to overlap to create a circle.

The thing to know is how many tabs you want to cut.  If you want to make 6 tabs, then divide a 360 degrees by 6 to find out how much each tab overlaps.  60 degrees! The more tabs you use (12 in this photo) the more circular the cylinder, which means it'll be a stronger shape.

1. Decide how many tabs you want your bottom divided into for folding purposes (See beautiful star of mesh to see how the bottom of our compost basket looked). For this photo we used 12 tabs so each tab overlapped 30 degrees (360 divided by 12).


1. Using a protractor or compass draw a circle, marking the center of the circle. Draw a line for the equator. Mark fifteen degrees north and south of the equator on both sides of the circle. Connect the marks you've made on either side of the circle to outline two 30 degree wedges.

2. Cut out one of the thirty degree wedges. The wedge should be about nine inches long.