Simple DIY Mailbox

Obligatory finished product first (with a little photoshopping color change for fun)

You can also watch a full video here

Step 1: I'm Using Maple

I started off with an S4S piece of maple. .75" thick and about 70" long and 8.5" wide

Step 2: Cross Cutting

I started by cross-cutting out two pieces to about 22.5" - these will become the front and the back.

Step 3: ...ok Well Now I'm Cutting

Technically in the last step I was just measuring :)

Step 4: Ripping

Next I ripped all my pieces to their finished widths. The only trick here was the top. I had to cut it out of 3 pieces in order to leave myself with a slot for the mail to stick through.

Step 5:

Next I glued my top together. Then I took one my little rip to ensure that the top piece and bottom piece (one solid piece) were the exact same width.

Step 6: Joinery

next, I started working on joinery. It's all rabets. In the drawing here you can see I've cut one along the top, bottom, and back edges of the front and back panels. and along just the back edges of the top and bottom panels.

Step 7: Priliminary Rabet Cuts

Here are the initial rabet cuts. Then I just kept going until all of the material was removed.

Step 8: Sand Them Clean and Mark a Line

After I sanded all of the ridges left from the blade flat, I marked a 15* line (purely decorative) on the back panel.

Step 9: Make It Fancy

Then I cut it on the saw

Step 10: Make It Extra Fancy

I painted the inside of the back panel green to match my front door.

Step 11: Glue It Up

Next I glued the front, back, top, and bottom panels together

Step 12: Put a Cap on It

Then I cut and glued in this little cap piece for the end where mail doesn't go in. I'm sure there's a technical name out there that only mailmen/women (postal employees?) know of...but I'm too lazy to figure it out. the "non-business" end :-)

Step 13: French Cleat

I attached it to the wall with a french cleat. I also used a few spacer blocks so that the whole thing sits out from the wall equally.

Step 14: Sand

...sand it. I went up to 180 grit

Step 15: Finish

I used a few coats of Arm R Seal wipe on

Step 16: Done

That's it...thanks for reading. Again, you can see the full video with more detail here