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Boys and Girls

This damn C19 is being blamed for a lot of things nowadays and here's another one of its victims.

This is not as much a medical casualty but more so the justification for burdening you readers with this very basic but practical project.

With the home isolation indoctrinated by our politicians, there has been an additional burden imbued on my humble letter box that has caused me to view it with greater respect and thereby belatedly herald its birth into this world, as a project here at LJ's.

It all started by an impromptu dislodgement, perpetrated by a misguided postal service delivery truck up my driveway several years ago, on what was considered to be an immovable, securely embedded letter box



mounted in concrete by 4×10mm bolts… the incriminating scars after all these years,


While it was put back on its feet, correction… foot, I was apprehensive of its future survival so a replacement was decided on.

Never let it be said I'm a creature of habit, so keeping my mouth shut, it was off to the SketchUp drawing board,










Jarrah was my immediate choice of timber

as that was the only "exotic" I had… and used 100mm PVC pipes for the paper holder tubes

(the red tape was to indicate which was the wrong end… {sigh!} I could never win).

Holes were cut for the junk mail receptacles with the by-product of a bloody big mess and lot of timber burning



before I discovered this hole-saw trick.

A PVC pipe retainer was cut out of a 6mm jarrah veneer on the scroller,

I made 2 in case I screwed one up,

Fortunately I did manage to screw it up so the second one wasn't wasted.

With the base dovetailed and test fitted,


It was trimmed to final dimensions using a following router bit,



Eventually screwed on confirming I was a total smart-arse,


Dovetailed the top half

and laminated some merbau decking for the top half's base,


Perfected my dovetail joins by some colour co-ordinated wood filler,

and a dry fit of the two story box,


Had to check whether the stainless letter plate was the right colour and wouldn't fall through the hole,


I opted against mounting the new letter box on a pedestal and chose a concrete tile for a rest,

with some bolts through it to hold some packers,

for screwing the box to,


The box was finished with several coats of Sikkens Cetol HLS and Sikkens Cetol Supernatural,


Some of you may have noticed that there is no number on the box, while the rest of you did not… that is because (no, not the noticed but the lack of number), the house across the road is #1

and my neighbour is #2 with #4 next to #2, which is not me… and Australia Post refused to ratify me using #0. Confused? Well mine is a corner block and the idiot owner/builder used the back door as the street address and there's no bloody way I'm walking around the block to get my letters. Fortunately the posties has had 45 years (house built in 1975) to learn the numbering system… unfortunately it's a bitch when I get a new postie and have to scour the gutter to get my mail until he can be appropriately indoctrinated.

I did manage to slip in the #0 on the curb,

however, Australia Post continually throw a wobbly every time a letter is addressed to #0.

I did make a SketchUp video of some of the options I considered before concluding on this final design.

Before writing up this project, I had a quick look at the letter box and was a bit embarrassed about the state it was in and decided a slight facelift (a quick sand and coat of Sikkens) wouldn't go astray. Unfortunately I forgot to take a before facelift picture, however this is what it looks like now, after the surgery,







In my opinion, it has cleaned up reasonably well after those years in the sun, however, the reputedly "stainless" hardware, didn't fare as well,

even with some spit and polish... maybe I should have used Finnish instead of Polish.

PS. If you don't use letters and only converse via email, my next project of "A picture of my computer" might interest you.

Gallery

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Are you intending to scare the postman with those scarry eyes?...hehehe
 

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Are you intending to scare the postman with those scarry eyes?...hehehe

- Ivan
Haha… Never thought of that… no one nose (to go with the eyes)...
 

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The Postal Service guy has got nothing on me I took out 40+ in one hit.



Sorry you knew that already

But I couldn't help myself



That behemoth is held up by 8×1/8 pop rivets would you believe
 

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That behemoth is held up by 8×1/8 pop rivets would you believe
- robscastle
NO!
 

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Your tubes for newspapers look much like the fixtures we have around here which some sort of birds nest in every spring, not only stopping up the tube with nesting material, but also flying out at the approach of a delivery vehicle, startling the driver, who will then leave the newspaper laying in the street. Given the propensity of wildlife in Oz to be inimical to human life, I'm surprised you make such attractive nesting sites for the flying blood wombats or whatever it is that's the antipodean equivalent of chirpy birbs.
 

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Your tubes for newspapers look much like the fixtures we have around here which some sort of birds nest in every spring…
- Dave Polaschek
The actual box is not for letters DP... it's a warm box for bird eating snakes. In my area I have a love/hate relationship with birds that squat in my roof and crap everywhere… I love to hate them!
I'll post you a few mini-drumsticks if you like.
I feud with neighbours that put up bird boxes… I tell them (the humans) it's just encouraging those little buggers to eventually up market when they outgrow those little cubicles.
 

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Are you intending to scare the postman with those scarry eyes?...hehehe

- Ivan
Yes, this was my first thought:


LB,
As always nice project and good reading!
 

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You must have the coolest mail box in Australia.
I looked up the wood you used. Jarrah. It's very strong and rot resistant.
It looks a lot like mahogany but much stronger. Tests at 1860 on the Janka scale.
Can you buy it at your local timber store?
 

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A nice box Alex and well engineered, althought I have my concers about the flat lid. Doesn't it rain there?
 

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Round these parts telephone junctions are the favorite target:


So much so they are designed to collapse into mush. It's uncanny how many times I've seen tire tracks gouging out a lawn, fitting precisely between large boulders, only to nail one of these buggers dead on hidden behind a tree (the tree usually is unharmed).

Mailboxes are prey to baseball bats.

At first look at your new box (and the "junk mail" reference), I was expecting a dissertation on waiting for the mailman, placing a T-bone in the upper compartment and lighting the new junk contents ablaze. Efficient way to rid ones self of the junk mail and get a tasty daily dose of protein.
Somewhat disappointed you actually use that for its intended purpose, but a very nice design and I'm lusting over that Jarrah. Holds up better than stainless!
 

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It is a very upscale postbox, LBD, of course, but I am just wondering fo the postman is smart enough to figure out how to use it correctly…...........
 

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Thank you all for taking a gander.
... I looked up the wood you used. Jarrah. It's very strong and rot resistant.
It looks a lot like mahogany but much stronger. Tests at 1860 on the Janka scale.
Can you buy it at your local timber store?
- James E McIntyre
JEM, where I live (downtown Churchill), it's hard enough to buy firewood let alone "exotics". Years ago when I lived in Melbourne, I used to got to a specialised "timber yard" (Tile Importers... yeah, interesting name) and go through their pile of jarrah rejects and when I found a reasonable piece, I stockpiled… so I brought a reasonable selection to Churchill with me,

the dark boards are jarrah.
A nice box Alex and well engineered, althought I have my concers about the flat lid. Doesn t it rain there?
- Dutchy
I hope I have it covered... if only for the weather strip around the top edge of the sides and the trench under the lid…

So far I've never found a Wet-check in the letter box.

... placing a T-bone in the upper compartment…
- splintergroup
Aussie tradition is to leave cans of beer… usually in rubbish bins at Christmas… well forget the T-bone, I place my beers in the letter box and not tell the postie.. that way I can relish in my daily pilgrimage to the letter box and enjoy the content even when I don't get a tax relief cheque or on-line tool order posted.
 

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Lovely work. Jarrah looks like jatoba. I don't understand the tubes, you said they were used for papers? Que es "papers"¿ LOL

Now you need to build a rain shed to cover that lovely project! One thing leads to another …
 

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You amaze me, Alex…always thinking !! Nice work on the box!

cheers, Jim
 

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Beautiful work. Now where I live if I put that up I can expect some numbnuts to destroy it just because. They have tried this with the current standard looking mailbox. Problem here is what you CANNOT see. Inside is a 1/2 steel plate insert. Sure go ahead lean out the car with that bat and drive by taking a swing at my mailbox.

Oh, did it rip you out of the car and break your are and tear up your rotatory cuff? Well hell's bells maybe if you didn't commit a felony while doing so you might have some recourse.
 

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It is a very upscale postbox, LBD, of course, but I am just wondering fo the postman is smart enough to figure out how to use it correctly…...........
- wildwoodbybrianjohns
My postie is smart… when it's raining, rather than go out in the rain… he reads my letters, takes a picture and forwards them via email using his phone… why get wet? It's the garbos that complain about all the paper on the ground.
You amaze me…
- Jim Jakosh
I tried to maze it… but couldn't decide where the marble was to come out.
... with that bat and drive by taking a swing at my mailbox.
- woodbutcherbynight
Hint for your baseball league… stop homers by making the balls out of jarrah... it'll break any bat!
 

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Very nice letterbox Alex, but my question is, do it met Australia Post height standard?
It's my understanding that the letterbox has to be a specific height off the ground??!!
 

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Durex, Durex, Alex they call them Durex these days not that I need to buy them!

And I am with Crowie unless you have leprechauns delivering he mail.

If it was me blowing my whistle out the front your l place I would be wording you in big time
 

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.. used for papers? Que es "papers"¿ LOL

Now you need to build a rain shed to cover that lovely project! ...
- Madmark2
ils ne sont qu'un souvenir dans les musées... Yep, I cocked up big time… knew I should've used SketchUp to design the carport… just missed short by a mere 4 meters,

.... It's my understanding that the letterbox has to be a specific height off the ground??!!
- crowie

Durex, Durex, Alex they call them Durex these days not that I need to buy them!
And I am with Crowie unless you have leprechauns delivering he mail.

- robscastle
call them Durex???... only the dry ones!

As for the height, my postie nominated me for an "Order of Australia"... since Australia Post started their cutbacks due to C19, his motor bike has been replaced by a pissand scooter and now he no longer has to reach up to deposit the BS into my letter box... the height laws haven't caught up with C19 yet.
And as for junk mail… it's my contribution to nature… the snails don't need to crawl too high.
 

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Oh BTW I hope your going to install colin's great devices at the back.

 
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