Secret Book

Intro: Secret Book

How to: hollow out a book, for stashing your importaint items.

STEP 1: Select Your Target

Pick a good sized book, something that's easty to work with. I chose an old VB6 database book.

STEP 2: Layout

For mine, I started at page 60. Turn to the selected page, and make guide lines, about 1 inch away from the edges of the book. These lines will be used for cutting straight. I used a pen and straight edge.

STEP 3: Cut Away!!

use a very sharp knife (box cutter is advised) and begin to cut along the guide lines you made in the previous step. The best way is to make deep cuts, and not many of them. So press HARD. Once you have cut through about 10 pages or so, remove them from the book, and there will be a hollow spot where the paper once was.

STEP 4: Finishing Up.

I only made it through about 50 pages or so, in half an hour. this is tedious work, but the end result is worth it.
Once you have cut away the desired number of pages, trim the edges so they are smooth.

STEP 5: Hide Your Stuff!

Jewelry, SD cards, drugs, illegal floppy disks conveniently labeled as "seekrit disk". You name it, you can probably hide it in a hollowed out book YOU have made. Just place it on a shelf, and your stuff is hidden. (though I did have one person break into my home and steal nothing but books a few years back.)

Comments

[kirnex]

Okay, I have to say: CRAZY that you had someone break into your house and steal nothing but books. I have a living room with Cathedral ceilings and a platform surrounding my fireplace about ten feet up. I made built-in bookcases up there with a library ladder so my thousands of books would be out of the way. Now I'm thinking that they're harder to steal, too!

I think I'll definitely have to turn a few of those into a safe like this one. Thanks for sharing this--it's much easier than some of the other similar instructables for hidden compartment books. :)

[techboy411]

i think its a AWSOME idea

[dogbeardbirdbeer]

the instructable did not include the use of glue so using a high speed rotary tool on the inside pages of a book would likely fall somewhere between messy and dangerous. your post was strange because you suggested that the use of glue which "can take a couple of weeks depending on the thickness of the bok" would make the project go "a whole lot faster." I'm pretty impressed that you took the "banned from the shop" thing seriously since i don't really have the ability to take away your shop keys though i guess i had ya scared! having said that i'm very impressed by your credentials, please say what up to Larry Bricks for me... and by the way, i'm new to the site so check back in a week, i hope to have posted my first instructable by then... i really like it here, most of the folks on instructables have a great sense of humor, including the fela who posted the one above. peace.

[0.775volts]

Yeah, I realize I didn't make that as clear here as it was in my head. When I mean "whole lot faster" I'm speaking in lazy man's terms. I guess it could also mean "A whole lot less tedious". You dunk the pages, set it to try, and come back to finish the job vs. spending eight or ten hours cutting out pages, which would drive me pretty well nuts. I've personally taken away power tool rights from people (being a university shop, ours is a learning environment, and some people just don't get it) so that could be construed as grievous insult. Anyway, I got a little incendiary in my response to your post, and for that I apologize, but nice to have you hear, and I look forward to seeing some of your work.

[El Mano]

I read about making a hollow book by dipping it in glue, but i like Kipkay's method, using hot glue to hold the inside of the hollow together. It would take a lot longer, but you would get better results, if you worked slowly and carefully. Also, if glued only on the edges of the cavity, the tips of the pages would still move, making it slightly more likely to avoid detection (and it would also look better).

[stopherbailey]

I wonder if you could maybe use an electric flat iron to iron the pages together once you have a bit of "hot glue gun" glue between the pages this may allow you to work a bit faster( and messily) and thentidy it up after with the iron.
Just a thought and I do apreciate that Bleachworthy's Instructions are not for a solid book but a loose leafed one( if you get my meaning)

[dogbeardbirdbeer]

hey man, thanks for that response. it's a bit difficult to express humor in type form... thanks for your understanding and your comment. catch you later.

[guitarfan]

man i'm gonna do this with a twilight book so no one will try to open it or steal it

[cexmeyer]

i made one earlier today with a hard back book i used a drill and drilled a hole to cut it with a jig so it didnt work so well so i used clippers then i got lazzy so got a round dermal bit and pushed down on it till it cut pages out turn it at an angle and it cuts r a get a tool that cuts to attach to the dremal just clean it up nice and it works!

[n1cod3mus]

I recently done this to hide my passport in when i went to Rome, but i used a dremmel to cut the pages was way easier and i got a much straighter line down the side of the pages.

[JamesTB13]

You must be joking. Seriously, a book thief?

[zozo10]

awesome

[cre8vldy]

To keep the cut out uniform I just follow the outer edge of the typing...no measuring and large opening inside.

[scottjones1998]

what are you talking about

[cre8vldy]

You always start a few pages in.  A printed pages has borders.  I just put my straight edge along the print or inside the blank border of the page.  Usually around 1" .   I may not explain it well but if you look at the printed page in a novel you can see that the printing is all within the borders and are the same on all pages.

[chanchanman]

i did this to a dictionary and now i can fit my gun my mom and dad dont no about. ands im not joking

[bleachworthy]

I'm not even sure how I should reply to this... I just hope that it's registered in your name.

[cre8vldy]

Scary...you sound young.

[Frindledon3]

At the library by my house they have free books in the front of the library that are thick, big and really really old. Check your library for super old books

[naruto the ninja13]

man this is awesome im making one right now... it takes forever