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Keith Outten
06-25-2003, 1:58 PM
Yesterday my Dad and I installed our latest shop project in Richmond Virginia at the Studio of Hayes Photography on Parham Road. Our most elegant mailbox so far, we really enjoyed the project. The stand is 7 feet tall above ground with an additional 24" for buiial so the total length is about 9 feet.

The signs were all laser engraved. The oval sign at the top hangs on stainless steel loops welded to the top horizontal tube, we also used plastic chain so that rust would not be an issue as the oval is designed to swing in the wind. The cast finials were painted gold and the stand was finished with a primer and two top coats of enamel.

Mike Schwing
06-25-2003, 2:36 PM
Yesterday my Dad and I installed our latest shop project in Richmond Virginia at the Studio of Hayes Photography on Parham Road. Our most elegant mailbox so far, we really enjoyed the project. The stand is 7 feet tall above ground with an additional 24" for buiial so the total length is about 9 feet.

The signs were all laser engraved. The oval sign at the top hangs on stainless steel loops welded to the top horizontal tube, we also used plastic chain so that rust would not be an issue as the oval is designed to swing in the wind. The cast finials were painted gold and the stand was finished with a primer and two top coats of enamel.

VERY nice and professional looking! How in the world do you repeat all of those curves with such accuracy?

Tom Sweeney
06-25-2003, 2:44 PM
Keith,
You really do very nice work in many different mediums.
That would look nice outside a Victorian B&B or something (something LOML & I have thought about doing).
Keep them pics coming - they are an inspiration.

Doug Littlejohn
06-25-2003, 3:50 PM
Really nice looking !! Sharp !! Sounds like the attention to detail in the material selection is as exacting as the design was implemented.

Do you do any other type foundry work?

Roger Myers
06-25-2003, 5:18 PM
they are not mailboxes, but rather snow plow targets.... The only question some years is if anything will remain standing when the snowbanks are gone. That really is a terrific looking box and stand and I wish I could put something like that in front of the house and have it last....

Roger

Keith Outten
06-25-2003, 5:59 PM
Hey thanks for nice comments. We just started doing this type of metalwork...the idea is that we needed to be able to build our own stands for our laser signs. Truthfully the bending is a snap, all you need to do is buy a set of benders and it helps to have a welder. You can drill/punch and use rivets as well.

I can tell you how to buy $1000.00 worth of benders for only $139.00 if your interested. I bought a small bender from a particular company (A) then another then I found out that Harbor Freight had an almost identical tool for the same price...it got better...when I ordered the bender it came with three major tools for the same price. These same tools would have cost me over $1000 bucks from company (A). All of the tools are hand powered and will bend flat bar, round bar and square stock.

Better still you can start doing wrought iron type stuff and incorporate it into your woodworking projects. You know...those beautiful wooden chests that have the iron banding around them, the wooden shelves with the black iron edge trim and the iron shelf brackets, etc. You can aslo make your own hangers for your shop, forget buying those hangers at the big box for 2 bucks each. I've also made several custom u-bolts for a hitch I built for my mower.

The scrolls take about 15 seconds to make and instead of buying company A's shear for 300 bucks I bought a $29.00 set of bolt cutters to cut the flat bar at Northern Tools. One of the tools I got from HF was a twister, it will twist flat bar and solid square stock and in seconds you can make ballisters for your own fences and porch railing.

For less than 200 bucks you can get three very nice bending tools and a set of bolt cutters and do some amazing stuff. I just bought an abrasive saw to cut channel and square tubing.

I should mention that the material is reasonably inexpensive. Flat bar-20 ft long-1/2" x 1/8" thick for $2.80 and this is for new material not scrap yard prices.

Anyone want more information?

Dennis Peacock
06-25-2003, 11:59 PM
Excellent there Keith!!! Now...when do you start the "air mail" mailboxes? :)

Charles McKinley
06-26-2003, 10:36 AM
Hi Keith,

Once again I am very impressed with your work. As the cost of these tools fit into my start up budget easier than a laser (which I will have) I would greatly appreciate more information.

Thanks and again great work!

Keith Outten
06-26-2003, 8:47 PM
Here are a couple of links for those interested;

http://www.harborfreight.com

If you decide to check out Harbor Freight use the "Find Item Search Box" and put in this number 36131. This will bring up their item number ITEM 36131-1VGA which is on sale for $109.00. This set includes a scroll bender, a twister and a bending/riveting/rolling tool.

The Scroll bender is simular to MetalCrafts Mark 3/3 at $435.00
The Twister is simular to MetalCrafts Practical Twister at $190.00
The Bender/Riveter is simular to MetalCrafts Master Riveter at $485.00
The total of these three tools is $1110.00 and the Harbor Freight set although not exactly the same is $109.00...you save a thousand dollars.

If you visit Metal Craft at;

http://www.metalcraftusa.com/

MetalCraft has a Tool Demonstration Video in the Online Store section of their web site that you can order for 3 bucks, the video is great and it will answer a thousand questions concerning how to bend and what you can do with these tools. Buy the Video from MetalCraftUSA.

Sadly Harbor Freight doesn't have any of the other tools that MetalCraftUSA does so if you want to purchase other tools you are back to paying the higher prices. MetalCraftUSA does have a couple of small scroll benders that are low cost, the Mark 1/2 is $44.00 and the Mark 2/2 is $65.00.

If you get the bending bug let me know, I have collected over 300 pictures of wrought iron stuff and I will be glad to share the pictures with anyone interested...not to mention pics of the items I have already created myself (3 mailbox styles, shelf brackets, etc).

I really recommend that everyone consider purchasing the HF set. Even if you arent interested in doing this type of work the Riveting/Bending tool is great for any workshop. The money you can save making your own tool hangers, garden hose hangers, U-bolts and other little bending jobs that come up is really worth the money spent.

Warning! If your wife finds out that you can produce this type of "stuff" it could have a serious impact on your woodworking time. We won't even discuss Christmas gifts like candle holders and ........

Keith Outten
06-26-2003, 9:46 PM
Really nice looking !! Sharp !! Sounds like the attention to detail in the material selection is as exacting as the design was implemented.

Do you do any other type foundry work?

Doug,

When I was in Junior high School we had a foundry shop class and I did some casting but I haven't done any since then. Let's see that was before space flight so its been a long time :)

If a project ever comes up that interests me that required hot metal I would probably make an attempt though.

This is what I am going to attemp next.

Bob Oswin
06-28-2003, 8:53 AM
[QUOTE=Keith Outten]Yesterday my Dad and I installed our latest shop project in Richmond Virginia at the Studio of Hayes Photography on Parham Road.

That's a really pretty piece Keith:
How did you get the consistencly on the scrolls?
I have one of those small benders and use a computer print out to serve as a template. It's fussy.

Did you think about powder coating the metal?

I have no idea what they charge but it shouldn't be too much.

I'm going to check it out here and will report back to the forum if anyone is interested.

Bob Oswin

Keith Outten
06-28-2003, 12:19 PM
Bob,

The benders I have do the work, they make it real easy to make multiple scrolls and they are all exactly the same. All I have to do is cut the flat bar to length and place each end in the bender. It only took about ten minutes to make the ten identical scrolls for the main riser on the big mainbox.

The tough part is trying to determine the length of a scroll to fit a particular space. I found an easy way to do this as well by graduating the bends for each bender then placing my graduated scrolls inside the piece and measure the distance between them...you just add up the dimentions. I will explain further when I can get a couple of pictures to post.

I am interested in powder coating, painting is the absolute worst part of building this type of project. If powder coating is affordable I would love to send this stuff out to be coated. I doubt I could do it myself and be competitive in price. Let me know what you find out.