Jody's Snoopy Mailbox

This recycled creation was not mine, but my husband's. We hated our previous mailbox, and we had paid quite a bit for it and were extremely disappointed that it only lasted 6 years. Now the door wouldn't latch properly, so the mail carriers often left the door open, causing us to have mail blow out or get soaked in the rain. Jody wanted to make us a special mailbox with a dog theme using metal and his welding machine. He has a lot of back pain, so he had to take his time and work a little each day. This was the end result:

First, we scoured the internet looking for inspiration. Since I have a home-based dog sitting service, we really wanted to have a dog themed mailbox that would make it easy for people to find my home. We stumbled upon several Snoopy mailboxes, but they were the red wooden dog house, with Snoopy and Woodstock on top. Then Jody had the idea of making a giant Snoopy with the nose as the mailbox. It seemed like the perfect idea! (Of course, we also visited the USPS website to get the legal dimensions correct, so we could avoid any problems and we also consulted our current mail carrier to get advice before beginning.)

We went to the metal yard to look for all scrap material and found enough to complete the project. I drew out our outline and Jody cut each piece with precision. Then, he attached the head pieces with a plate that would hold the mail inside the nose. Next, I held the 6 inch strips of sheet metal while Jody tacked them together. After everything was attached, he began the actual welding and grinded  the edges smooth. 

Once we had a completed body, he had to cut the nose off to create a door for the mail. He had hoped to have the hinges on the inside but they had to go on the outside to allow it to open properly. The inside of the nose had a panel attached so that we could use magnets to hold the nose closed. 

He then attached a post so that Snoopy could be cemented into the ground and it was painted. Next, he began attaching the arms, ears, and eyes. He use pop rivets so it was easy to attach. The left ear was attached using a nut, bolt and rubber spacer - that way Snoopy's ear goes up when you have out-going mail instead of a flag. 

Finally, he made Snoopy's collar and cut a bone shape for our house numbers to go on. We were going to use red paint, but we found a nice fluorescent orange that claims to be more visible to cars at night. Snoopy is so cute and has gotten so much attention that we aimed one of our security cameras on him because we're concerned someone may try to take him! LOL

Here are some pictures of the progress from start to finish: