OUR NEW MAILBOX

We moved into our current residence some 25 years ago. We bought a new plastic mailbox and it has been attending to our mails for the many years. It is still strong and ready for the postman, and not to forget all the junk mails and newsletter that comes in once in a while.

Browsing the internet looking for a new mailbox, I found one that is popular in the United State, a half-cylindrical with a flag. I like this model, some of which are made from steel. I found few other mailboxes made from wood of various models. Looking at one model and its specification, I decided to make one by myself, with some modifications, on a DIY principle, or course.

I am not a craftsman myself and I do not have enough tools but I am confident that whatever I have is enough to start making a new mailbox for our home to replace the current mailbox. A few years back, I bought a working table, an electric jig-saw and an electric drill that I seldom used. I knew now that my jig-saw could cut beveled (slanting) at a few degrees as illustrated in the manual. It will take sometime for me to finish this “project” as I have my own chores to do daily. It will be built with my own blood, sweat and tears and no-one else could claim its rights, for sure.

I bought the materials needed, pieces of planed planks and wood, wood glue, nails etc. Before getting started, make sure that the planks and wood are dried enough, or it may crack and shrink later. I started by preparing the box piece by piece. I have to use strong paper clips to clamp the planks when gluing, as I don’t have the right clamping tools. With a lot of patience, it worked. I have to prepare all the parts separately before fixing it.

The first step I did was to glue three pieces of planks with the specific length to form the back of the box, prepared the two sides and the bottom piece. The glued back part was cut beveled at one side and cut off to a standard length. The sides too have to be cut beveled at a 30º at one side. After a careful measurement of all the three components, the back, both sides and bottom were then glued to form a basic box. Once the glue dries, these parts are then nailed to permanently bond them together.

Another two pieces of the planks are then glued to form the roof of the box. The roof has to be measured accurately and when the glue dries, cut off to the exact size with extra length on all sides. It would look nice to cut bevel on all sides except the back of this piece.

Then comes the frontage part, that is the frame, the door and the slots for the incoming mails have to be prepared. The top of the frame have to be cut beveled for the roof. Get the right measurements for both sides of the frame, diagonally and horizontally. Making the slot is a bit tricky but I managed to cut off a piece of wood with a 30º beveled and that the slot would be wide enough for an A4 envelop. Thus our postman will not have to fold any magazines or other documents to fit in the mailbox. Cut another piece to join the bottom of the frame. The length of the frame is measured accurately with the inner length of the box and cut off. The bottom part is then glued to the frame.

Two pieces of plank of a reasonable length and fit the frame has to be glued for the door. When the glue dries, it has to be cut off with the accurate measurement fit into the frame and with enough room to fix the hinges. Nailed a piece of wood horizontally on the inside of the door, both top and bottom to bond them together. Fix the slots to the frame with glue, with the accurate measurements and take into account the size of the door. It could be stapled to fix it permanently to the frame.

A small window of about 5” by 2” has to be cut off at the lower part of the door. A piece of glass or plastic of the same size would fit the hole that can be decorated with a piece of plywood glued to the front part of the door. Maybe personal creativity would help. A lock and key may be fixed for the door, a door knob or handle, and a magnetized door catch could also be installed.

All cracks and holes were covered with filler, and once dried; all parts of the box would be polished with sand-paper. The right color for the external of the box would be the “post office” red. If you want to paint the internal, you may have to spray the paint before fixing the frame to the box. It would be much easier then. Before painting, cover up those joints and strips you want to glue later with tapes. Anyway, you may choose whether you want to paint it or not, but painting would help to protect the box, come rain or shine, especially our weather here in Malaysia.

When all these items including those of the frontage of the box are ready, fix the frame to the box with glue and later nail it together. The roof then be glued and nailed to the top of the box. The door is also fixed by two hinges or piano hinges to the frame. I cut off the house address from the former mailbox, glued and screwed it to the door, as a remembrance of the old faithful.

It’s up to you where you want to install the new mailbox, and maybe it needs your creativity. Cut a piece of wood, preferably 4” by 2”, beveled at a 45º with the length of the box horizontally to give you two pairs of cleats. Fix one of the pieces at the back of the box and another to where you want it to be. The box may be permanently screwed.

At last, after almost 2 months, on this day 1 January 2012, there it is our new MAILBOX for our HOME, SWEET HOME. We hope our letters, books and magazines would fit in this new mailbox. We are sure the junk mails, notices and newsletters though are not welcome, would fit in too. We do sincerely hope that letters from MARA and PTPTN will not reach our new mailbox. We know that these letters are those claiming unpaid loans, and there is no person indebted to those agencies at this address, so sorry! After all, there are only two persons here at this address, Uncle Tan and “ibu d’tinggal”.

I introduced my new mailbox to the local postman. Thank you, bro postman, Encik Surain, the regular guy with whom I used to chat and say “hello” to.

It is a tedious job to build this new mailbox, and I did it to the best of my ability. It was my first experience. Experiences could not be bought, we have to do it ourselves to get it. Anyone interested?

The Legend goes:

I do not know how to grade this new mailbox, but whatever it is, this is what I have done and I am proud of it. This is my first home-made wood working item that I long to do. It would be better someone else would do the comments.

My grandfather’s name on my mother’s side is “Burok” which means “Ugly”. I remembered someone in my family once said that whatever our grandfather did, the final result would be a bit “ugly” or flawed here and there, and thus his name came from. I did not know how far the truth in this story. I hope, as his grandson, what I have done would not be classified as “buruk” or “ugly”.