Pencil Safe

When I saw the Safe and Secure Challenge I thought for quite some time on what would be cool and what would stand out enough to enter in it. So.. I made this pencil "safe". You can roll up money in it or use it to pass secret messages:) This is quite an easy, quick and fun project to make and use.

Step 1: Gather Materials

For this "safe" the only "real" tool you need is a drill, but all things used are listed below.

• a drill (a drill press would be better) but I don't have one.
• a 3/16 drill bit-or any size really as long as its a smaller diameter than the pencil you are using.
• a wood pencil-a few is better than one, it took a few tries
• a vise or clamp

Step 2: Drilling the Hole

This step is pretty tricky. First pull the eraser and silver colored band off. After that put the pencil straight up in the vise/clamp thing (or as straight as you can get it). Center the drill bit on the pencil. Then, being careful to drill straight into the pencil so the drill won't split the wood or go out the side, I drilled into it about 2.5 inches-This is enough to account for the height of the bill. Keep in mind the deeper you drill into the pencil the higher the risk is of splitting the pencil.

Step 3: Fitting the Bill Into the Hole

This also proved to be very tricky. I discovered that I could only fit one bill in it at a time which is okay because you could just make it a big amount like a 50 or 100 dollar bill. To be able to roll the paper up small enough took some time but eventually I got it small enough and it slid in with a little persuasion.

Thanks for reading and please vote if you think its worthy.

Comments

[CasseyShepherd]

Very nice!
If you got good at drilling the holes (seems like you already must be) you could sell these as a fun novelty item on Etsy, especially with the WWII stories behind the originals!

[Alex in NZ]

Nicely done. I would be sure to crack the pencil, so kudos for drilling that out safely.
If you haven't seen this museum in England then it's worth checking out. https://www.derwentart.com/en-gb/c/about/company/d...
They have a display of special pencils which were sent to POWs in Europe during WW II which used the trick to conceal maps of escape routes. The type of pencil (HB, 2B etc) told the recipient which map was inside.
Thank you for sharing the modern version :-)

Edit to add. Just found out they still make and sell them as souvenirs! https://www.derwentart.com/en-gb/p/2302303/gifts-o...

[plendl]

I checked it out. Thats pretty awsome and thanks so much for sharing.

[Makerneer]

Neat idea, thanks for sharing!