Better Book Safe

Step 4 Starting To Cut The Well

Use a band saw to cut out your "safe" area in the book starting from the spine and cutting in a straight line. I suggest you draw a guide line to show where you want to cut. I wanted a square safe but you could round the corners to make it easier to cut.

If you want square corners you have to cut the straight lines in the top and bottom first then cut a diagonal line so that you can get to the vertical line at the front.

When you are cutting make sure that you put pressure on the top of the stack and push from the bottom of the stack. If you push from the top of the stack the pages will buckle and the cut won't be aligned. And you stand a good chance of cutting off a finger when the stack buckles.

You could do the cuts using a coping saw but it's going to take much longer. To cut with a coping saw you should clamp the pages between two sheets of plywood already cut to the shape you want so that the book holds its shape while you cut. I did not find this necessary using a band saw.