Mail Box Stand
Every homeowner will tell you "Your work is never done, something always needs fixing." Well for me that list is long (and getting shorter) one thing that has always bugged me was the mailbox. It never stays closed and is just ugly. My wife and I have done a ton to fix this house up and the ugly mailbox was just insulting. So I decided to do something about it. I purchased some inch and a half square steel bar (for another project that was scrapped) that I decided to put to use.
Square drifted
I began by drilling a 3/8in hole as close to the center as I could and got to drifting. Drifting is when you expand the hole that you made. This took me some time as I was doing it all by myself. Usually, with a stock of this size, you would utilize a striker or a power hammer but I didn’t have access to them. First I drifted the 3/8in hole to around 3/4in, keeping it round. Then I used another drift that I made to square off the hole and try to get to the 1in square I would use for the cross-beam.
Scrolls
For the Cross-Beam, I used some 1in square bar. Originally I purchased this bar to use stock strictly for hardy shanks, thinking it too big to work on my own. But now, I find myself looking at these bigger stock sizes and wanting to take things to the next level in size and scope. I will use more of these big stocks in the future. Even though I drifted it to a little over the 1in, it wouldn't fit. Realizing that since it was heated and shrinks when cooling I heated the vertical to red hot and slipped the crossbeam in.
For the scrolls, I turned to my go-to 3/8in square stock. This stock has a decent size while remaining small enough to be heated quickly and easy to work.
After I finished my scrolls I adjusted the crossbeam and welded it in place. Then welded on the scrolls. After checking my welds I was overwhelmed with satisfaction. My most ambitious project yet was nearing completion and my vision was spot-on.
I decided that I need numbers on it. Noticing the open space below the crossbeam I originally thought that would be a good location but realized that my numbers would be backward if you come from the other direction, and this was not good with me. So I decided I needed to forge two sets one for each side.
From the onset, I knew I wanted to have it painted Satin Black. I use Satin Black paint for its strong durable finish with "antique" vibes, and painted the numbers white.
This project was my most ambitious and heaviest yet. Weighing in upwards of 50lbs this stand was not easy to move around. From beginning to end everything in my vision fits perfectly. The scrolls, drift, paint, while challenging at times it all went to plan. When something started to go wrong I just stepped back and reevaluated. Getting the pieces where they needed to go so I can move on to the next stage. As hinted earlier I am planning on using these bigger 1in and 1.5in stocks for future projects. I hope you enjoyed following along as much as I did making it.
