DIY Booksafe

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Ever since I discovered steampunk I’ve come up with little things for decorating the house. For some odd reason a booksafe is an indispensable feature in a Victorian household, just can’t do without. On top of it I am a book lover and the thought of hiding my treasures in my beloved books has always been fascinating.

For this book safe I used an old dictionary

Want to make one yourself? Here is how I did it:

What you need
A thick book with hard cover
A cutter knife or a scalpel
A piece of metal with straight edges, e. g. a ruler
2 screw clamps
1 (better 2) third-hand tools or clamps
1 cardboard box to be used as insert OR
A piece of cardboard to make your box
Pen or pencil for markings
All-purpose glue

How to do it:
First you need to decide where you want to have your box inserted. I recommend to have it centered. Open the book so you hold the cover and all the pages that should not be dealt with. Fix it with your third-hand tool or a clamp to keep them out of your way.
Hold the remaining (thicker) part of the book the way it would lie on the table if it was completely closed. All the pages are flush with each other. Fix this with your screw clamps and best fix it on your work table as well.

Now take your box and place it where you want to cut out the hole for it and mark the cutting lines. If you make your box instead of using a ready-made one, you can now either use a template or make your box now. See below how to do this.

Now you can go ahead and cut out the hole for your box
Please be very careful not to cut yourself. The knife has to be very sharp .
Depending on the height of your box you probably need to cut your hole in several steps. In case your cut-out is becoming too deep to cut safely, open the clamps and turn some pages towards the ones put aside before. Fix the book to the table again and proceed.
The cut-out may look a little uneven. That doesn’t matter if it is not too bad. Your insert box will make this unvisible.

When getting deep enough for your box to fit, take care not to cut through more pages than needed. I recommend you put a piece of cardboard between the pages to prevent cutting too deep.

The insert box
In case you don’t have a ready-made box or want to have a go for it yourself, you can easily make the insert box. Take a piece of cardboard that is not too strong. You want to easily cut and fold it. I used a recycelt wrapping. The print will be invisible later.
In the middle draw the surface area of your cut-out. Measure the height of your cut-out and add a rectangle of that height to the sides of your surface area drawing. Add another 1.5 cm to those rectangles.

This makes a cross-shaped template. Cut it out carefully. The inner lines mark where the template needs to be folded. That’s easier if you scratch them with your cutter knife. But be careful not to cut right through!
Fold the extra  1.5 cm towards the outside so the rest on the book page.
Test the size before glueing. You can still make corrections.

Now take your book and open the page just atop of your cut-out. Cut out another piece just a tiny bit smaller than all the other cut-outs. This page will cover-up the edges of the glued in box later.
Now spread the glue evenly in the cut-out and on the outside of your box and carefully put it into the hole you cut before. Do NOT glue on the page you just cut separately.
After the box is in its place, glue that page you cut out last on top to cover up the edges.

Now close your book and press it. The screw clamps can help you with that.

All you need now are small treasures to keep in your book safe.