How to Hollow a Book
Hiding treasure in a buried, hard-to-find area is a great idea, but isn’t it better if you hide it in plain sight? You can do this with the help of a hollow book. Whether it’s money, a spare key or a secret candy stash, this will certainly do the trick. Here’s how to hollow a book.
What You’ll Need:
Hardbound book
Water
X-acto knife (a box cutter also works)
White glue
Brush
Small container for glue solution
Plastic wrap
Pencil
Rags
Procedure:
Get a thick book with a hard cover. To make the hiding place more effective, choose a book with a title that’s completely uninteresting, which no one would think of picking up.
Open the book, then select the first few pages (as many as you want), then hold them to the book’s front cover using plastic wrap. This prevents glue from accidentally getting on them. These pages won’t be cut, except for the last one. The last page will make the book still look lie one when opened and will also cover the hole up. The last page nearest the hole will be glued later.
Get the white glue and mix it with water. You should have a solution that’s runny enough, but will be absorbed by the book’s pages’ edges
Hold all succeeding pages together, the ones who came after the ones you set aside earlier. Use the brush to apply the glue solution all over, so it’s well-absorbed. This binds them together. It’s a good idea to dip the brush in water after you’re done, to remove the glue. Wait for the book to dry for 15 to 30 minutes.
Put a sheet of plastic wrap in the glued pages and the pages that won’t be cut, so they won’t touch together. Put any heavy object on top of the book, applying pressure.
Once dry, open the book, revealing the first page you glued. With a pencil and a ruler, make a 1/2 inch border within the book ’s edge, on all four sides. You now have a box in the middle of the book. Use a knife to drill in a hole in the corners of the box, to how deep you want the compartment to be.
Using the X-acto knife and a ruler, cut along the inside of the line you draw. You can use a box cutter for this, too. As much as possible, make the cut vertical. You can also tilt it, so the hole narrows as you go down. You don’t need to cut all the pages at one time, you can leave a few layers and work on them later.
Keep cutting through the layers. Do this carefully, so you’ll get straighter and smoother inside edges. There’s no need to rush. If there are bits of paper from the inside that came from cutting, remove them.
Once your done cutting, use the glue solution to attach the hole’s inside edges together. Let the glue soak in. When you’re done with the inside edges, work on the outside edges.
Use the brush to lightly coat the hole’s frame with glue. Attach the saved page directly on top of the hole, covering it.
Close the book again, completely gluing the saved page to the frame. You don’t need spacers for this one. Let it dry for 15 to 30 minutes.
Using the X-acto knife again, cut the saved page along the frame so the hole is accessible again. Open the book to let the moist insides dry.
Check if the book is dry thoroughly. You can now fill it with your items to be hidden. Put it in a bookcase or shelves to disguise it better.
A hollow book is an excellent hiding place. With this neat idea, your secret treasures will never be found by anyone else but you.