markb Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 I've got 'em Any ideas on a unbashable (indestructible) box and post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chyancarrek Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 A buddy of mine used a piece of cast iron water main around the mailbox then welded fins using one quarter thick by three inch wide plate along the long length all around the circumference. He spaced them about one and a half times the width of a baseball bat apart. He got the idea from a fella who was besieged with bashers. The fella told him the fin spacing increases the chance of the bat (or whatever) of getting hung up and wrenched out of someone's hand. It also slices pumpkins to pieces. I don't remember what he used for a post and anchor. Do you want to do that? Should you do that? Does it work? I dunno - but he never had any more evidence of someone taking a swing at it. Maybe just the site of that monstrosity was enough . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragons lair Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Built two for customers. Both made out of 3/4 round bar with 3/16 plate bases. Base plate extends up to just below the flag. Six yrs on the first. Was going thru a box every mounth before that. RB was about a 3X4 grid. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imagedude Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Just fill it with nitroglycerine. It won't get bashed twice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike-hr Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 A while back, some folks approached me to build an explosive-resistant mailbox. Apparently some kids had been putting M-80 type firecrackers in their boxes and watching them explode. I built a nice mailbox that looked like a model of their house, but with a hinged back wall with a loose spring catch so the back door would fly open during a sortie, and vent the explosion. My plan worked, but the huns tired of not getting it to fly apart, so they came back with hammers and beat it to shreds. Their current model is a plain mailbox with potato digger chain links welded in a half arc over the top. It's been there 6 or 7 years now, maybe the huns got married, had kids, and now have mailboxes of their own. You could do some good re-enforcing by pouring your mailbox into a 14 inch sono-tube of concrete,and then mounting it with a good pipe post into the ground. Nothing like solid mass to promote tennis elbow in the hoodlums. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Watch out for liability---if you build a mailbox designed to cause harm it can cause legal problems later. On the other hand if you just design a mailbox to be "pretty" and it accidentally causes harm---no intent shown you are usually in a much better legal place... I had a friend in the country where they would run over your mailbox if they couldn't bash it. Well he made a base for it so if it got knocked down he could just lift it up again. Well the base also would tip up, dig into the ground and rip anything off the undercarriage of a vehicle running it over that it could. Much easier to figure out who was doing it as they were getting new brake lines, electrical work and muffler installed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chyancarrek Posted August 12, 2008 Share Posted August 12, 2008 Watch out for liability---if you build a mailbox designed to cause harm it can cause legal problems later. Exactly Thomas. That's why I put the - would you, should you - statement on my post. I came home one day to find my mail box crushed and the 1/4" wall pipe and plate mounting-post bent in half. There was a note on the front door from a witness. Turns out that it was a road rage incident where two fellas were combat driving and one lost control of his 70's era P/U and went off road over my mail box. The witness said the plate the box sat on caught the side of the truck over the rear wheel-well and sliced it open like it was made from tin leaving about a 4 ft gash down the side - the truck then took off without stopping - I'm thinking the guy got a surpise when he looked at what happened. When I had put that post in a year earlier, I wasn't thinking at all about it being bash resistant - just wanted to make sure it would stay where I put it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HWooldridge Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 We have a lot of oilfield pipe down here (or used to before the scrap wars) and we'd make both box and post out of sch 80 then set it into about a square yard of concrete. Front and back covers were usually 1/4 to 3/8 plate. It took a lot of energy to damage one so the yard gorillas would get a real workout tiring themselves out. Unfortunately, they usually took their rage out on the neighbors boxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironrosefarms Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 I have been considering going and buying one of those large mailboxes (thin metal) then taking one of the many destroyed small boxes to put it into the middle of the big box. Then filling the void between the boxes with concrete. My only concern is the liability side of things... I have become real good at taking apart a box beating it back in some reasonable shape of a mailbox then putting it back on the front line... errr I mean at the road side. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan W Posted August 13, 2008 Share Posted August 13, 2008 I've seen folks build a 2'x2' red brick coloum and put their box in that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canuk Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 i have seen where one guy cut and welded 3/4 '' round rod into a cage for his, one thing to remember is if you make it heavy and bash proof what happens if a car hits it and it come flying off? or a snowplow gets it lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrous Beuler Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Having lived on a rural dirt road just outside of a college town I've had my mailbox woobied a time ot two. Last time I believe the weapon of choice was a bowling pin because I spotted it in the weeds about ten yards down from my battered box. Must have slipped his grip. Like before I just put a piece of 2x4 in my post vice to use as a stake and whopped it back into mailbox shape again. This time however the bottom was worse than usual so I had to reinforce it. I used a slab of kiln dried hard rock maple 1 1/4" thick to provide a new base because that's what I happened to have on hand that fit. I did not intend to "fortify" it. All fixed and repainted/ reinstalled. Two days later upon returning home from work I found that my box was sporting new battle damage once again, sheesh! It had a crease up the middle of the side. Closer inspection revealed the unmistakable impression of the front edge/ toe of a golf club on the bottom edge. That slab of maple took the full hit. Junior must have got quite a surprise when he connected with that. Apart from the wrinkle up the side I'll bet that box didn't even quiver and I hope it was his dad's most expensive club.:cool:Dan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coltpax Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 have two on one post, one on top of the other. Fill the top one with concrete. It would seem to be harder to hit the bottom one, and the top one should give them a nice surprise. Or you could weld one out of quarter inch plate and mount it one a 1 in. steel pipe in a foot of concrete. That would probably work too. Or you could make one that looks like a rose (which would look kind of cool) and have the thorns on it incase it gets ran over, it rips up the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironrosefarms Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 (edited) Around here if you put up a brick structure for your mailbox they come and wrap a chain on it and drag it off. The guy just North of me built a brick enclosure for his mail box, rebar throughout, filled with scrap brick and then filled with concrete and they still came and broke it off drug it about a mile down the road... Currently my post is 4" Black iron pipe (I have no clue where it came from) the walls are about 3/8" thick then I filled that pipe with concrete. That post then is set into a pipe that is set into concrete in the ground with an ID just big enough to take the 4" black iron pipe. Overall the pipe sits 5' into the ground. The pipe has never been "injured" but it has always been a good thing that I can use the tractor to remove the pipe when we have had over sized machinery come down the road. The only thing that gets damaged is the mail box itself, I have 4 of them that I try and keep beat out and ready to install. Edited August 14, 2008 by ironrosefarms Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnW Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Dang ironrosefarms, you ought to set up remote cameras or hire a private detective or something. But then I don't suppose it would do any good to catch these guys, unless you have something you want to say to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasPowers Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Actually mailboxs as "federal property" are a pretty nasty charge to have against you if you get caught. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferrous Beuler Posted August 14, 2008 Share Posted August 14, 2008 Almost forgot- There was an incident in this area some years back when some unknown party placed a large firecracker of some sort into a mailbox. Just then the resident of the house came out to get the mail from the box. Just as she reached to open it the box exploded and the two year old toddler the woman was holding was killed. Senseless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1860cooper Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 (edited) Okay, I'm just curious. What on God's green earth is the actual liability for just having a strong mailbox? Isn't using an M80 the liability? Is there even one court case someone could cite? Sometimes it gets my dander up how some people bend so much over the perception of liability. If there is any truth in it, that's fine, I'm not complaining. But when there isn't... life is too crazy anyway to sweat the imaginary, I think. A friend of mine had a friend who was mailbox bashing about 8 years ago. After smashing a box real good he was watching it and laughing as they went, only he didn't see the garbage dumpster coming. It actually killed him. Said friend played the bagpipes at his funeral. Really sad. Oh, I have an idea... lets not be stupid! Edited August 15, 2008 by 1860cooper Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chyancarrek Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 What on God's green earth is the actual liability for just having a strong mailbox?! It isn't if you just create a strong box. It's if you specifically design it to do harm. It's also illegal to set up booby traps on your property to deter trespassers. We live in a litigious society - Anyone can sue you for just about anything. So many people don't want to have to take any responsibility for their actions or behavior. About 12 years ago I got into a fender bender (my fault) - I didn't do but $350.00 damage to her car (bent the bumper). She sued me for 1.2 million dollars. Fortunately the jury saw right through what she was trying to do and only awarded her $18,000. But it took five years in and out of court and tied up a court room for 5 straight days in the final trial. I know she gave most of that settlement to her lawyers - but $18,000 was still payed out for a $350.00 accident. In this "me first / me only" society we live in, there's no shortage of people who will leverage their own misbehavior then try and make you pay for it. Saddest thing is that in many cases the courts support it. It's created an atmosphere of complete paranoia about liability. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptree Posted August 15, 2008 Share Posted August 15, 2008 I built a Ball bat resistant box, and I thought it looked pretty good. I told the lady it would be a target, but she was determined. I used 1/4" square tube, witha bent U welded under that, and the vines are forged steel. The rose flag is also steel. No damage in 6 years, except for the red paint fading and requiring a repaint. I made every part removable to allow repair, but none yet. Here is a link to across the street where it is on the gallery.Blacksmiths Gallery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Dean Posted August 20, 2008 Share Posted August 20, 2008 I was told by our mail carrier that the post had to be break away incase something hit it. If it wasn't I could face federal charges. The very next day my golden oppurtunity came in, International 856 with a bad crank, and I happened to have a junk flywheel sitting under my bench. The following Saturday morning I placed my new mailbox post and waited for my mail carrier to show up. He came to the house to warn me about the breakaway thing agian, so we walked back to the mail box. You should have seen the look on his face whe he realized that it was just sitting on a concrete paver. He thought I had set it in the ground because he couldn't move it. Now if someone decides to run it over the damages are thier problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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