Corten Letterbox

[tznv8s]

hi all,

we have recently just started making corten letterboxes with perspex and a light,
they are becoming a real hit here in Australia, just wondering how much work you guys
over in the US are getting for items like this?

[JJsCustomDesigns]

Ive never seen such a thing, But im from nebraska. we're out here in the sticks

[dgeorgester]

Wow!!! That's really nice. Is it backlit also? Can you post more pictures and how-to's?

Thanks for sharing,
Georges

[Dawgonhawg]

Corten is hard to find in the US. Very expensive when you find it.

[Craig]

Very nice work, would love to see it lit. Craig Johnson

[muzza]

Corten is hard to find in the US. Very expensive when you find it.

It should be easier to find there than in Australia, we don't actually have a mill producing it here (although some merchants will tell you otherwise) , the plate and coils are imported from America. As you say it's expensive, about 40% dearer than hot rolled but I always find the customers are prepared to pay more for it. It's a lot harder on your guillotine too and pretty hard to pull back if you over bend it.

Nice letterbox, thanks for sharing. I've done a few too, I'll try and dig up some pics.
Murray

[plain ol Bill]

Muzza our postal system has so many arcane laws and regulations regarding mail boxes that I really doubt they would put mail into one like that - but dang that is good looking.

[beefy]

Tell me if there's something I don't know but I see a lot of advertised Corten designs and they have all sorts of beautiful patterns/gradients on them. However, I read on some forum that eventually the rusting process continues until it will be a uniform dark brown everywhere. Of all the Corten I have viewed in real life, that dark brown uniform rusting is exactly what I've seen.

Can these nice looking gradient/patterns be "sealed in" anyway or is that just like a coat of paint that will eventually break down, creating lots of patchy areas.

I personally find the Corten steel goes nice against light contrasting background like a beige rendered wall, or in the above example the white translucent plastic behind. However, one problem I've seen with barebones Corten is rust stains on these light contrasting surfaces. Rain/water that drips of the steel and onto the light surface causes the stains.

Once again I wonder if there's any way of sealing the surface to prevent this.

In Australia our home made brand is called Xlerplate, by Bluescope steel.

Keith.

[muzza]

You mean colors like these cut from Corten Keith





They are freshly cut and had the mill scale broken with Hydochloric acid and rinsed with water. Pics taken about half an hour after cutting. If you want it to stay like that you need to lock it in with a clear coat otherwise as it gets moisture from the air or rain it will turn an even brown as you have seen around.

You will get a rust run off or streaking if you don't allow it to age before mounting but once it has an even rust over all exposed areas it wont stain. I have even done a sign which the customer has mounted to a sandstone wall and no rust staining. If you do get staining you can normally clean it off with CLR

This is another example of contrast using Corten with shiny zincalume



Now this is not cut by me but is an example of Corten usage is this sheep's skull about 20 feet wide on the new Monington Peninsula link.



Sorry to hijack your thread tznv8s.
Murray

[beefy]

Thanks Murray,

yeah that's what I'm talking about. I find the lighter brown shades mixed with the darker ones to be quite nice, and to me that's the real "power" of Corten to look great, as is shown by tznv8s letter box, I think it looks great. OK so they do need to be sealed in, and if not sealed then to prevent staining it has to have fully rusted (aged).

If I'm correct though when it's aged that will mean it's completey rusted on the surface and so has "self-sealed" itself. I guess that also means it will have reached it's final state of a uniform dark brown, which I personally don't find attractive. I think it just looks like, well.....rusty steel, LOL. Got a laugh when a builder I know said to me a few months ago, "What's all that rusty steel on the side of the freeway". He was talking about the many Corten panels running for a few Ks not far from the rams head.

I live not too far from that giant rams head, quite like it.

I'll have to look into what's the most durable clear sealant for the Corten.

Keith.

[muzza]

If I'm correct though when it's aged that will mean it's completey rusted on the surface and so has "self-sealed" itself. I guess that also means it will have reached it's final state of a uniform dark brown, which I personally don't find attractive. I think it just looks like, well.....rusty steel, LOL.

That's one of the beauties of Corten, once it's aged or rusted it locks it in and stops it rusting further, if it gets damaged it will self heal as they call it and if as along the freeway it gets tagged with graffiti just sand blast it and it will re-age and match in fairly quickly.

Got a laugh when a builder I know said to me a few months ago, "What's all that rusty steel on the side of the freeway". He was talking about the many Corten panels running for a few Ks not far from the rams head.

I live not too far from that giant rams head, quite like it.

You mean this lot ?

I'll have to look into what's the most durable clear sealant for the Corten.

Keith.

I've had early success with using POR15 Glisten http://www.por15.com/GLISTEN-PC_p_45.html which is a clear polyeurethane although it hasn't been done for long so it may yellow but first you have to heat it to make sure there is no trapped moisture. KBS coatings also have a similar product which is made here in Oz, I have a litre of that here ready for the next one http://www.kbs-coatings.com.au/kbs-diam ... -clearcoat

Murray

[beefy]

That's the panels Murray. As a matter of fact I passed them today a couple of hours after my previous post (I love that new freeway). I wonder if grafiti has anything to do with them using the Corten like that.

Thanks for the info on those clearcoats. I've heard a few good reports about the POR15 but didn't know it's made of polyurethane. Polyurethane is pretty useful stuff, my rain gear is made of it, and I've just installed a few urethane bushes in my Territory to replace the crappy flogged out OEM rubber ones. Getting a bit off topic there LOL.

Keith.

[tznv8s]

Wow!!! That's really nice. Is it backlit also? Can you post more pictures and how-to's?

Thanks for sharing,
Georges

it does have a light, however since its solar powered with a few LEDs, the lighting isn't very even,
we are going to build a wood/corten screen fence and move the letterbox then wire it up for LED strip lighting.

Penetrol is the best product i've found for sealing rust, works great.