A New Postbox

Time to step into the workshop, a year or so ago, I made a postbox to attach to the inside of our gate

definitely not one of my better designs, but I wanted to make use of a slot that had opened up in the gate where the planks had shrunk, unfortunately because it is close to where we open the gate, there have been a number of head injuries, drawing blood, and not just mine!

It would have been easy to redesign if the slot went horizontally instead of vertically, but I don\’t want the gate falling apart, so will make use of the existing slot.

This morning I have been sizing and cutting parts, from wood,  in my scrap bin, pine with a mahogany top,

as a result the postbox will look something like this, the back will be the gate itself, and this will sit against it, with the slot to the right side, inside will be a piece of cut plastic tube, which will guide any mail into the box itself , the bottom two cross pieces will be hinged and form the access door to remove mail.

There are only two pieces of mail a month, the electric and the water bill!!! why only two  bills you ask!? well that is because 4/72 the National Post Service, wont deliver outside the town limits, they are probably scared of getting duffed up for anything of value, the two bills we receive are delivered by the Public Utility issuing them, and relate to our meter number for that service, not the address. water is no problem, because the bill is delivered as they read the meter for the next bill, but the electric is different, because everyone\’s meter is attached collectively to the electricity pole in the road, therefore we have to paint the meter number near to our gate for them to identify the correct property. Before the mailbox, they just shoved the bill under the gate, which was useless when it rained, or if Pepe got to it first!

The box is nowhere near finished, I need to route all the sharp edges, sand everything, and then stain and varnish each individual piece before assembly to ensure it is watertight, but that is for another day!

No…I\’m not being lazy, but I had to take the brushcutter for repair this morning, I went to cut the grass last night, and it wouldn\’t start, the man tells me he is not sure if it can be repaired, being a Stihl copy from China, and not an original, but he will try for Monday, if that fails, I will have to buy an original next time, that\’s two in two and a half years, it would have been cheaper to buy an original to start with!

Also, I am acting as Goffer today, as Marcela is at home unwell, that will teach her to eat from street stalls, on second thoughts it probably wont, as this has happened before!