Craftsman Mailbox - Step 2

After rough cutting all the sides, top bottom and gluing up the blank for the back, it was time to move on to the front of the mailbox. The front is an open web design allowing you to see if there is any mail before you open the box.

First I cut out the top and bottom rails, and the vertical stiles.


The horizontal middle rails were up next. I had some 6/4 stock that to cut the 1 1/8" thick pieces out of. I started with a 2 1/4" x 10 3/4" piece and used a stacked dado head cutter to cut the 1 1/4" dadoes. I then ripped the 2 1/4" into two 1" horizontal rails.



That's all I had time for. Next I'll glue up the front, without the middle rails so I can easily the joints smooth.

Craftsman Mailbox

I still haven't finished the Railroad Clock. It's still waiting for it's finish and assembly. Maybe soon...

In the meantime I've picked up a new project. As I was staining the front of the house on the weekend, I removed the mailbox and decided not to put it back up. Instead I searched around and found a nice mailbox to build to replace it. Above you can see what the final product should look like.

I'm building this out of Red Oak because that's what I've got laying around. It should be built out of Quartersawn White Oak but I don't have any of that laying around. Maybe next mailbox.

To start with I made up a design plan in Google Sketchup 7. I'll use 3/4 material for the box, and 3/8 for a floating bottom. I'll likely get the hinges at Home Depot and we've got a friend that does laser engraving to cut the letters in the top for me.


I found a 9 1/2" x 8' 4/4 board on the shelf and planed it down to 3/4". Next I cut it in half and ran both halves through the jointer to get one square edge. Lastly, over to the tablesaw to square up the opposite side at about 9". A bit of time spent squaring up the lumber results in this :


Now with the tablesaw and mitre saw I cut out the pieces for the top, sides, bottom and back. I'll add the angled cuts to the top and sides later and plane down the bottom to 3/8" after I cut the mortises. Here's what I ended up with after 45 minutes. I found a piece of scrap to add to the back to get it to the 9 1/2" required.


Next up will be the front.