Book Safe

I always wanted a book safe to hide things in since I was a kid.   You can find pre-made book safes online as well as instructions on how to make your own.  Of the many tutorials on making your own book safe I found that The Art of MANLINESS to have the best one.  I tweaked it a little based on the materials I already had to use.

Materials 

• Book (an old or unpopular book works good)
• Small box cutter or exacto knife 
• Extra blades (they will get dull)
• Plastic bags or Wax paper (I used wax paper)
• Vice, C-clamps or Heavy books (I used a stack of heavy books)
• Spray Adhesive or Mod Podge (I chose to use Spray Adhesive)
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Fabric or Felt (you do not need if you want to leave the storage area the way it is)

Step 1

• Take plastic bags or wax paper and use it to cover the front book cover, back book cover and pages that you do not want to be glued together.

I used wax paper because it fit between the pages I wanted seperated better.  It does not bunch up like I found the plastic bags did.

Step 2

• Ensure that the area that you are using (table, counter top, etc.) is covered up to prevent overspray from getting on it.
• Take the spray adhesive and spray all three sides that have the pages showing.  
• You can use other types of glue and brush it on to seal the pages together.

Step 3

• Place in vice , c-clamps, or place a stack of heavy books on top of it until the glue drys.
• You may need to run the razor blade slowly between the wax paper and the page because of the over spray.  It did not effect the pages at all.

After waiting 24 hours for the spray adhesive to dry, it was still tacky to the touch.

So I went over the pages with a homemade glue, it dried in an hour and was no longer tacky.  Now I will just do this step a few minutes after applying the spray adhesive. 

Step 4

• Using a ruler and pencil trace out the shape and size of area you want.
• Start cutting out the pages until the opening is to the depth that you want.

I covered the last 4 pages and the back cover with wax paper so I could show how it looks.

After taking this pic I used my homemade glue and brushed it on the rest of the pages and back cover and stacked the books on it while it dried.

Step 5

• You are done! Start tossing your treasures in.
• You can glue felt or fabric in the area that is cut out to make it look nicer.

The pictures below are of my final result for my book safe.  I had issues getting the fabric to sit right but it works for me.