How to Make a Book Safe

Whether you want to make a safe place to keep your small valuables or an intriguing gift, a book safe is a quick, fun project. And when it's done you can place your book safe on a bookshelf for a virtually invisible hiding place for your keepsakes.

Things You'll Need

• Large hard cover book
• Ruler
• Pencil
• Exacto knife
• Fingernail scissors
• Felt
• Hot glue gun and glue

Instructions

1. Choose your book. You will want a hardcover book that is at least two inches thick. An old dictionary or text book would make a great hiding place for your valuables.

2. Open the book and use a pencil and ruler to draw a line an inch from the outside edge of the first page. Continue this line an inch from the outside of all the edges. You will use this line as a guide for cutting out the opening in your book safe.

3. Support the edge of the book so the pages line up neatly and begin cutting along the drawn line with an Exacto knife. Cut only a half inch of pages at a time to ensure that you have neat edges in your book safe.

4. Remove the cut out pages from the center of the book and use the fingernail scissors to make the edges smooth and the corners neat.

5. Use the cut out pages as a template to draw an identical rectangle on the first page underneath. Then cut out the next half inch of pages. Continue this until you reach the inside of the book's back cover.

6. Line the inside of the back cover with a piece of felt that has been cut to fit the opening you've created for your hiding place. After gluing the felt in place, run a line of hot glue of the inside corners of the hole you've created in your book safe. Finish by gluing strips of felt to the sides of the safe's hole.