![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/SvTFvxqWSKI/AAAAAAAADf4/DTOrRCS-FAY/s200/Mailbox.jpg)
Rare earth magnet, is there no end to your usefulness?
![](http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/SvTFq3eJEfI/AAAAAAAADfw/QSbhjJJfQpI/s200/Flag.down.jpg)
This walnut mailbox with bloodwood flag has seen better days. But considering it's weathered the elements (though under a covered porch) for the last 9 years, it's not too shabby.
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/SvTFqgMfmkI/AAAAAAAADfo/XQ-6vWC7-qM/s200/Flag.Up.jpg)
When I built it, I was going for a mission style—simple and sturdy—something nice to greet the mailman. And I came up with all kinds of elaborate ways to attach a flag that would tell him when we had outgoing mail.
Then it occurred to me that rare earth magnets might function as a pivoting mechanism. It worked, and still
![](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_Tc0t8CgyXiI/SvTFqiFzW0I/AAAAAAAADfg/ZUmjND4qTcc/s200/Magnet.jpg)
The wooden flag cracked, the mailbox cracked. But the magnet is a real crackerjack.