Turning chipboard

[smidsy]

Hei Guys,
Anyone ever tried turning chipboard - what sort of results did you get.

Our letter box is infested with ants each winter, chemicals aren't really an option because they would have to go inside the letter box and would get on the mail.

What I am thinking is a bowl about 200mm diameter mounted on the letter box post and filled with water to act as an anti-ant moat.

Needless to say I don't want to waste good timber on this so I'm thinking about chipboard laminated to about 100mm.

Thoughts & ideas?
Cheers
Paul

[ozwinner]

What about a steel letterbox??Al

[smidsy]

The letter box is steel, mounted on a treated pine post.
What I want to do is cut the post part way up and mount a bowl of somekind to act as a moat to stop the ants getting in to the letter box.
Cheers
Paul

[Barry_White]

How about a ring cake baking dish and cut a hole in the centre for the post and epoxy it half way up the pole.

[echnidna]

Why not just drill some holes in the post immediately below the letterbox , out of sight and fill them with ant bait.

[Zed]

eh, mario! whya nota geta conacreta one eh ? yu paint a nice green an' bellissimo!

[old logger]

Asimple solution is to sprinkle powdered chalk from a chalkline around the seams,or a mixture of borax with a bit of honey.The drones will take the mix back to the queen and kill her.Hope this helps.

[bdar]

Hi Paul,
I like your approach to your ant prodlem. I did turn a chipboard plate several years back, it turns ok, harsh on the tools though. As the name implies, does chip alot, ca glue helps. I think I cremated it in the end. Now that you have brought the subject of turning it, if you cut out the middle of the sheets to desired wall thickness it wiil save a lot of turning. With the random chip sizes, it would be an interesting project to experiment with wood dyes. Let me know how you go.

To all things good.

Darren

[adrian]

Maybe if you chained an echidna to the post and didn't feed it.

[Gingermick]

Maybe if you chained an echidna to the post and didn't feed it.
But we'd miss his antics

[TimberNut]

Smidsy,
I had similar problem with ants at home outside. Was driving me nuts.

I fixed them with some 'ant sand' that you get from bunnings. It only cost about $5. You could sprinkle a bit on the ground around the base of the post.

When I did it I found that it was satisfactory for about 3-4 months (depending on how much rain you get). Water doesn't bother it, unless it washes it away.

Might be a cheap solution for you.

[rsser]

Love the way you look for ways to repay the cost of your lathe Paul!