I came out of work today and was greeted with freezing rain.

Stopping of at the local supermarket for some ice melting product I was disappointed to find that all the smaller shaker containers of ice melting products were sold out. All they had left was a big bag of rock salt, so that is what I got.

Thanks to the ever present pot of coffee that makes its home on my kitchen counter, I have a few extra empty coffee containers laying around just waiting to be rednecked into something new and exciting.

I know that over time using rock salt on concrete will cause the surface of the concrete to get pitted, brittle, and flaky, But I will take flaky concrete that needs to be resurfaced over a broken bone or other injury caused by taking a slip down icy steps.

Step 1: Let's Get Started

1 container to be turned into a shaker
1 wire coat hanger
pliers
wire cutters
drill and bits

using the top of the container as a form bend the wire around the lid. Once you are happy with the shape decide where you want the wire to go into the container to secure the lid while shaking, and mark the lid for drilling the holes.

cut your wire to length and bend the ends in.

make an alignment mark on the lid so it is easier to line up the wire hole after refilling the container

Step 2: Making the Shaker

Depending on the granule size of you ice melt material will determine what size holes you will need.

I ended up making 1/2 inch holes in my lid since some of my rock salt is down right chunky. I even connected two drill hole to make one really large hole in the center.

Drilling the lid on the container is possible, but not recommended.
You are better off taking the lid off and placing it onto some scrap wood so the lid has support and then drilling your holes that way. if the lid is unsupported it tends to crack and break when you start drilling larger holes.