Card set to hide things in

When I was about to throw away my cards (lost a few cards, and it needed replacement anyway), I thought of making this: a pack of cards with a hole in it to hide things in. It can be anything (as long as it's small). How about some spare money? Maybe a few batteries, or a mini knife. I use it to keep some spare money with me.
I used pieces of leather from an old wallet to line the inside with. It looks very neat, if I say so myself.

Note: don't underestimate the amount of time this will take. Took me about 2 hours. You have to cut and glue every single piece separately.

Second note: remember to be careful with knives!

Step 1 Materials you need.

-A pack of cards, obviously
-A ruler
-A sharp knife. I recomend an xacto knife, but I used a small spyderco knife because that one is actually sharper than a xacto :)
-Scissors
-A few pieces of leather, or felt. You can probably use a lot of different materials for this. Or you can skip lining it at all, since that saves some work.

-A cutting board might be a good idea, since you will be cutting with a sharp knife. Don't want scratches on your table, even if it is a workbench!

What I forgot to include in this photo is glue. Very important :D
Any kind of glue is okay, I guess.

Comments

[roundthingsroll]

Hi. I made one, and I love it. I used orange felt for the liner, and put in two rare-earth magnets, one at each end of the body, then broke an exacto blade and sandwiched those metal bits into the lid, now the magnets keep the lid closed.

Thanks for the excellent Instructable and idea.

:)

[eygen]

That looks neat! I'm doing the same thing with a book now, but it's taking ages.

Have fun hiding stuff :)

[shadow wave rider]

great idea with the magnets. but the holes for the magnet where made by a hole punch werent they. or did you drill it. tell me

[guyzo35]

I cut out a sheet metal stencil to trace the cut onto each card, to ensure all the holes were the same size. Fits a buck knife, LED flashlight, and some matches (I glued a strike pad to the inside). Thanks for the idea!

[badblb]

i had two cards i cut the center out of one of them then stapled a card on top on only the small top side with two staples so you can fold it up

[d.i.y master]

here are those pics you asked for

[d.i.y master]

Wow its creepy but when I made one it took me exactly 2 hours like you said!.

[eygen]

Cool! Could you post some pics of the results?

[ralphab]

 To speed up the gluing process, try  power gun nailing the four corners of the deck together then gluing top and bottom to cover the nails. Also to cut multiple card layers drill a pilot hole and use a jigsaw to trim the inside (after power nailing). I've successfully jigsawed layers of paper before. Maybe a rubber band in two directions would hold everything together (like we did in college for a ready game.)

[Rick.Cartwright6]

Nice Spyderco!

[vanillabean]

For attaching the bottom cards:
How about a pin/pivot mechanism. I know you said that but hear me out:
- Cut a hole for the pin to sit comfortably in the deck with enough space on top to allow the cover to rotate.
- Super glue the hole. Stick in the pin (through the cards of course).

The pin would be secure, though the cards may still be fragile, depending on how you treat them.

For even more security: Add a magnet in between the two cover cards opposite the pin. Then add a magnet (more cutting!) so the top is one card down from the top of the box. Voila?

[McCoolman]

 try magnets 

[SmokeDestructer]

Well, you could try using half or 2/3 of the deck to make a bottom part, put around a small box without a top, then glue the rest of the deck together with the top couple of cars not cut, making a lid that would go around the interior box. I'm not sure if I did a good job explaining that, but there's my suggestion.

[Human Being]

awesome!! for the title, how about something like, "How to Hide Something in a Deck of cards"

[SNiPERSeyes]

thats the greatest name i have ever seen, human being, oh god if i have children im gonna name my son human being....

[Johenix]

Better idea: Casinos here in the states give away drilled decks of cards. (Drilled so you can't use them to cheat the casino.) Seeing you can drill a deck:
1.) Take your 35 cards (52-17) and drill a hole in the center of the deck.
2.)Glue the cards front to back.
3.)Put a bolt through the hole to compress the deck and let the glue dry.
4.)Now with the bolt and glue holding the deck solid, drill four corner holes and then with a coping saw cut out the center of the deck.

[XOIIO]

I'm going to try gluing the whole pack together then using my rotary tool, I'll let you know how it workd out. What kind of glue should I use for a really strong bond?

[DannyBoy97]

I made a hollowed-out book a while back, and glued the pages together first.  I used a 50/50 mix of Elmers glue and water, and just brushed it liberally along the edges with a small paintbrush.  It dries clear, and since it's watered down, it seeps in between the edges and holds together very well.

Playing cards are heavier, glossier stock, so I'm not sure if the same solution would work, but it may be worth a shot!

[eygen]

I would've tried that, but I wanted to do the leather lining differently so I couldn't.

I used Bison kit contact glue. Good stuff, I use it for everything. I don't know if any stores in your country have it, though. I think any glue would do.

Let me know how it works out (with pictures, of course).

[Fieldownage]

 Blast! You stole my comment!
     Yeah I'd glue them all together first and then do the rest OR glue everything else than couple of cards so you'd just need to make a hole and then glue bottom. And for the glue, PVA is the right choise (wood, paper, etc.), I guess because if you use something that'll push the cards together while the glue is drying... Well if it fails after that, the cards have failed.

[ZonariAn]

Nice project!

I have an idea for a lid.  I just came up with it while flipping open and closed the case that my zune is in, which closes magnetically. 

Get 8 small disk-shaped magnets. 

Use a hole punch in each corner of a stack of cards just thick enough to encase the magnets flush with the stack (so that it's still thin).  Seal the magnets inside the holes in the stack with a single card on the top and bottom.  This will be the lid.

Take a segment near the top of the stack that is the container (the cards with the center cut out)  and repeat with the magnets, sealing them with a single card on the top layer.

Doing this would make the internal space a little shallower because you'd have to dedicate more cards to the lid, but all in all if you took the time for detail, you would have what seemingly appeared to be a normal deck of cards, with no visible magnets or gaps.

I hope I wrote it so that it's easy to understand the way I saw it...If anyone wants me to make a little illustration to help then I will.  :D

[trebory6]

 I was thinking about something like this too! Wonderful Idea!

[linq008341]

I'm planning to be a girlfriend, thank you for your good ideas(S—ÙsËZ*""`„})

[cowscankill]

I should try this. My brother is throwing away three decks of cards.

[shaneomacmcgee]

What if you didn't fold the leather over to the top of the deck, and just glued it to the sides? You wouldn't need to cut the middles out of these cards, so you could use them for something else. I was thinking a lid. If you cut the cards the same as the first step, but glued the middles together, then glued that to the three last cards, so it wouldn't slide off.

If that makes any sense.

[eygen]

Good idea! Makes sense to me.
Still, you cut out +-40 cards so you have plenty of those left. No need to take out more cards.

[Minja13]

You might be able to put the lid on with a brad fastener. It would have to be a long one, but it might work...

[place name here-]

This is sweet. you could use magnets in the deck & small bits of metal in the lid so it would self it wouldn't need to be thick.

[eygen]

That's a great variation on Jguiro's idea. I made a lid according to his idea, and it's a little too thick. Good thinking!

I think I'm going to cheat and buy another deck. I need a couple of new cards to make a lid like that.

 

[merleman]

deck of stash sounds cool or stash cards

[little_noob]

 nice thinking. This should also be good for some kind of magic trick too...

[BobicusIX]

(if you don't have magnets, that is)

[BobicusIX]

taking money out of deck of cards, maybe?

That would be pretty awesome, although you would need to have a bottom on the deck.... DOUBLE STICK TAPE!!!!! that would be a great way to keep the cards on the bottom on!

[NatureBoom21]

:O where did ya get that knife! i want one!

[bustedit]

@Nature - I think that is a Kershaw brand knife. they make great lil knives.

[NatureBoom21]

 THANNNKKK YOOOOOOUUU

[eygen]

Like I said, it's a Spyderco. I do have several Kershaws I like, though, so it might as well have been one.

[fidgetingfinch]

 You could probably fit a Kershaw LFK in there too. It's an awesome knife for the price. I seriously have $100 knives that aren't as sharp as that $30 Kershaw.

[eygen]

It's called the Spyderco Bug. Do some google searches, it should be around $7.

Or do you mean the big one? That's the Ontario RAT1. A little more expensive, but worth it.

[nolte919]

I like the title.  It's precisely describes what it is, which is what a title should do.  And you might have a hard time changing it, ibles are listed by their title.  You might have to make a new ible with the new title and transfer over the content.  And that would mean you'd lose your featured status.