How to Make a Book Safe

This year for Christmas I got Adam the Art Of Manliness book collection. They are full of tips and tricks for a modern day man to use. Plus relationship advice, essays from famous men throughout history, and tons more stuff for guys. 

While looking for the books I was going through their site and saw an essay they had about building a book safe. I love the idea of having a book on the shelf to keep secret treasures in. Plus when I told my brother about it, he jumped at the idea of having one. So I decided to try it out. 

First, I am lucky enough to have a pretty extensive collection of really old, really awful abandoned books stored up in my basement.  I had no trouble finding one that I was willing to cut up (Pretty sure no one is going to open up this copy of Dynamic Anatomy anytime soon). Make sure you choose a book you feel ok parting with. 

You are going to need Mod Podge, a razor, a ruler, paintbrush, pen, two plastic bags, and some tape.

Start by selecting a few pages that you want to keep loose and un-glued from the rest of the book. I chose about 100 pages since the book was so thick. Then I wrapped those in plastic wrap to protect them from the Mod Podge. 

 I repeated the bag treatment over the back cover. Once everything was taped in place, I got to gluing. I used a GENEROUS amount of Mod Podge on all sides of the book.

In the tutorial I saw, they used a vice to keep their book together while the glue dried, however, I don't have one. What I had (as I said earlier) was a glut of old heavy outdated books gathering dust. So, I put them to use on top of my book while it dried.

After about an hour of drying time, it was finally time to get to cutting. I mapped out my safe, leaving about an inch to an inch and a half of page space left around the sides. 

Using the razor, I traced my line for the first of MANY times. Seriously, this took a ridiculously long time. 

Still cutting.  

YUP, still cutting. 

 FINALLY after what felt like five hours (probably about 1 and a half to 2) I finished up my cuts. I painted more Mod Podge around the inside of the safe and one more coat around the outside for good measure. Then VOILA:

As you can see, I had some problems with the corners. Reading through a few comments on the Art of Manliness page, I found that most people had the same troubles. Some suggested drilling down the sides, others used hand saws. Either way I will be going back to clean up the edges before I officially present it to my brother.

I'm a little undecided about whether or not I want to line the inside of the safe or not. I kind of like the pages being displayed underneath but felt might be a nice touch for the next time I try my hand at this. Considering the number of books I have piling up around here, there will definitely be a next time.

-Bee