Add mailbox photos and update restoration draft

container/site/content/posts/2026-09-01-mailbox-restoration/before-gallery.yaml

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+images:
+  - src: "images/before-gallery/mailbox-inside-before.JPG"
+  - src: "images/before-gallery/mailbox-outside-before.JPG"

container/site/content/posts/2026-09-01-mailbox-restoration/index.md

@@ -12,22 +12,26 @@ author = "nicholas"
 
 The mailbox project starts when my mother-in-law decides she needs a new mailbox. For some reason the old one is not good enough—I don't know—but she buys a whole new mailbox kit, and I am volunteered to install it. I take down the old mailbox and store it in her garage, not knowing what she wants to do with it. I will cross that bridge when I come to it, I decide, and much later I do. Anyway, I install the new mailbox. Done.
 
-Later, another project brings me back to her garage to clean it up, install new shelving, organize the space, and dispose of junk. We sort through everything and decide what to keep and what to throw away. During this process I come across the old mailbox again, and I think it would be a shame to discard it. It weighs 20 pounds. It is a behemoth, a beast, well-built, but nothing spectacular. A borderline case. It has a few spots of rust, some chalky paint, and a grimy, spider-webbed, kind of nasty interior, but it is otherwise structurally sound. No doubt this mailbox has survived with zero maintenance for at least 20 years, so with some care it may survive the century. The steel forming the main arch is literally 1/8 inch thick. Just totally overbuilt compared with what passes for a standard mailbox in 2026.
+Later, another project brings me back to her garage to clean it up, install new shelving, organize the space, and dispose of junk. We sort through everything and decide what to keep and what to throw away. During this process I come across the old mailbox again, and I think it would be a shame to discard it. It weighs 20 pounds. It is a behemoth, a beast, well-built, but nothing spectacular. A borderline case. 
+
+The marketing material I found for what appears to be the exact mailbox shows a semi truck running over the mailbox. Now you understand what we are dealing with.
+
+
+{{< image src="images/ironsides-marketing.jpg" alt="Ironsides mailbox marketing image" >}}
+
+It has a few spots of rust, some chalky paint, and a grimy, spider-webbed, kind of nasty interior, but it is otherwise structurally sound. No doubt this mailbox has survived with zero maintenance for at least 20 years, so with some care it may survive the century. The steel forming the main arch is literally 1/8 inch thick. Just totally overbuilt compared with what passes for a standard mailbox in 2026.
 
 So I throw it in the back of my pickup truck, where it is neglected a little longer—maybe a couple of months. Now I begin the process of restoring it.
 
+## Before Photos
+
+{{< gallery name="before-gallery" >}}
+
+
 I have a corded drill, which is kind of annoying, although at least I do not have to change batteries. That is a separate discussion. I use it with a wire wheel anywhere I can reach because nearly every surface of the mailbox needs attention in one way or another. I grind off the rust and chalky paint, and it looks better and better. This is tough work; the rust is not easy to remove. Removing all of it may be totally unnecessary, by the way, because the instructions on the primer say it can be applied over what I am told is called "sound rust." I tend not to trust those kinds of claims.
 
 The interior is a little trickier. There are crevices along either side of the mailbox where water has evidently collected. There is poor drainage, so the water just sits there and rusts the steel. I scrape and brush out a considerable amount of rust, which turns out to be almost completely superficial given the thickness of the steel. Afterward, I am satisfied that I have removed as much rust as necessary, inside and out. I finish with 120-grit sandpaper, making a nice pass over every surface that will receive paint.
 
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 - Performax® 3" Coarse Wire Steel Cup Brush
-- [ ] Super Clean 1 gal
-- [ ] Zep® Professional Spray Bottle - 32 oz
-- [ ] Performax® PVC Parts Cleaning Brush
-Model Number: MENW197
-- [ ] safety glasses
-- [ ] Rust-Oleum® Stops Rust® Flat White Universal Bonding Primer Spray Paint - 12 oz
+- safety glasses
+- Rust-Oleum® Stops Rust® Flat White Universal Bonding Primer Spray Paint - 12 oz