# Mail Box Post



## mdeiley (Jul 4, 2007)

Well upon arriving at home today I find my inexpensive did I say CHEAP existing mail box on its side. It appears the heavy duty 32 gauge steal wall tubing had rusted off at the ground. Well I know in the past peaple have been very open and willing to share ideas...so why not see if anyone has built a mail box post. If so what wood? how deep did you bury it? Pressure treated or Ceder? I hear talk of white oak being a good outdoor wood. How about red oak. I have 2 red oak posts that I could incorporate into a post but I fear they will soon come to rest on the ground as the heavy duty steal post I had. Also any unique designs would be neat to see. As far as my info I live in Minnesota so winter and summer gets brutal on out door projects. And the fact the winter snow plow comes and piles up all the snow and salt every time it snows. Well again I thought what better place to start. Thanks for looking and any ideas that may come my way.


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## Gary Beasley (Jan 21, 2009)

Last mail box post I made was of 6" pvc pipe. Don't rust, flexes on impact. It can be covered with wood slats to look like a traditional post if desired.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

I've made a few of them and basically end up with an approximate 4x4 profile that decorative feastures are added to the sides. I bury them about 3', or plant in concrete. For wood choices you could use White Oak, Cedar, Cypress, Redwood, Teak, Ipe, or PT. Mahogany sounds interesting, but Bamboo would be different. If you paint it you could use just about anything, like SYP, Douglas Fir. I wouldn't use Red Oak.

You can get some ideas from these image pages...there is a bunch of them.


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## TexasTimbers (Oct 17, 2006)

I live in "the country" where teens from the closest town like to "backroad". Backroading is loading a cooler full of beer, two rifles and shotgun, and a buddy. The object of the game is getting drunk while slowly cruising sparsely-populated county roads. Like mine. "Slowly cruising" is driving about 20MPH. Liek you're in a school zone. Except you don't usually discharge firearms in a school zone. After enough beer, you start shooting things. Mostly small critters and cayote. The high caliber rifle is for cayote and the small caliber is for critters past shotgun range. The shotgun is for the critters up close . . . . . and mailboxes. 

Another great way to kill mailboxes is to get REAL drunk and decide to back up about 300 feet past the one you just passed, because you noticed the house sits way off the road and the owners can't get out of bed in time to get any shots off at you. After you back up, first you both have to get out and empty your bladder of beer, then you have to get a new beer to fill the bladder back up and also to kill some more brain cells. 

Then, although neither of you have been wearing a seat belt all night, now, you automatically strap yourselves in without even mentioning it or thinking about it. You feel like Richard Petty when you do this, but you aren't on near as noble a mission as trying to win the Winston Cup. After a few real deep gulps of liquid courage, a couple of loud, almost perverted giggles, finally comes the "Holma beer-an watchiss!"

You stomp the gas, the 1977 C10 with a 350 c.i. 4 bolt main, inverted air-breather turned upside down so you can hear the growl of the internal combustions as the secondaries of the 4 barrel open up, screams to life. Tires spitting gravel as you commit your feindish crime, just before the finish line (mailbox) you veer off the road halfway and SMASH!!!! 

WAAAHHHHHHHHHH-HAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! DID YOU HEAR THAT JOE BOB?!!!!!!!! DAYYYYYYYYUM!!!! We killed the hell outta that mailbox gimme five!!!!!

I lost 3 or 4 mailboxes the first year I bought this place. I got smart and buried a 2 7/8" drill stem 4' into the ground and 3' above. I haven't lost a mailbox since. My mail lady said if any teens run iover it on purpose or "by accident" whichg it always is when they get caught, I will be sued for damages. I said "okie dokie". The drill stem is still there. :icon_cheesygrin:

What was the question? Oh yeah. I just sink a 4 x 4 cedar post into the gorund. No concrete - it holds water and will rot the post faster than if you fill the bottom of the hole with pea gravel and just tamp clay around the post. The clay (regular dirt works too just not as quick) will hold the post solid, just like concrete eventually.


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## drcollins804 (Jan 11, 2008)

TT
We experience another version of the mailbox game where the guys decide to practice their baseball skills from the back of the pickup. After losing three or four boxes in a short time a friend of mine who is also a machinist made a mailbox insert of 1/4 inch steel. A couple of days later he found a dent in the outer box and half a bat laying on the ground by the box. Problem solved. The box is still there with the one dent in it.

mdeiley
To answer your question about a post I used a treated 4X4 set about 2 feet deep in gravel. Be sure to check with your local PO about the height that they want it placed at.
David


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## tonnygarden (Jul 24, 2012)

Your issue is something awkward. A mailbox company may suggest you better. So I think you should contact with a local mailbox company.


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