Book Box / Book Safe

Our remote controls were propagating like bunny rabbits. The problem had gotten out of control. Not even the Universal Remote could stop them.

This madness had to stop. To bring order to the chaos I decided to build a box out of an old book that I never read in order to contain the least used remotes.

Alternatively, this book could be used as a book safe. Perhaps to hide your secret keys?

Materials

• Book
• White glue
• Glue stick
• Spray glue
• Felt
• Plastic wrap

Tools

• Small paint brush
• Pen
• Jigsaw
• Oscillating Multi-tool
• Razor blade
• Scissors
• Straight edge
• Clamps
• Work table

Safety Gear

• Safety Glasses
• Gloves
• Dust mask

Turn the book to page 100 (varies on the size of the book and the desired depth of the box). These pages will be allowed to be loose. Insert plastic wrap here and wrap it around the cover to prevent these pages from being glued.

Use adhesive spray to glue the last page to the back cover.

Also glue the last 10 pages or so to each other.

Riffle through the remaining pages and spray them as the pages go by.

Close the book and ensure the plastic wrap is on securely.

Use a small brush to coat the white glue onto all three edges of the book.

Determine how large of a box you need. Since I was using it to store my remote controls. I marked the outer edges slightly larger than the largest remote control. Use a straight edge and a pen to mark the lines to cut on.

Place a heavy object on the book and let it dry for at least 2 hours.

While the book is drying clean out your brush with some water.

Clamp the book down.

Use a large drill bit or a spade bit to drill a hole in the center of the book. Make sure you don't drill all the way through the back cover. (Place the hole closer to the center of the book then I did because if you are too close to the edge, the drilling action may cause the glued pages to separate.)

Insert the jig saw blade into the hole. A blade for cutting wood will work fine. Work your way to the template lines you drew earlier and cut as much as you can. You will need to stop the blade and readjust as you get to the corners. Depending on how wide you want your box to be you may only be able to cut three of the four edges with the jigsaw.

*You should check that the length of the blade when fully extended cuts deep enough and will not cut through the back of the book.

*The blade I had was too short for the depth I wanted so I had to finish up the cutting with the multitool to get the desired depth. However, the jig saw is much easier to work with and if I could do it again I would have gone to the hardware store and picked up a longer blade.

Clamp the book down and use an Oscillating Multitool or a Reciprocating Saw to cut the fourth edge that is closest to the book binding.

*Alternatively you could use a razor blade to perform all or some of the cuts.

Remove all of the cut pages and clean up the edges.

Use the white glue and paint brush to glue the inside edges. Place the plastic wrap or some spare pages between the beginning of the cut pages and the normal pages to prevent them from being glued together. Clamp the book closed on the edges and let dry for 2+ hours.

Cut some felt to the size of each edge. Make the cuts slightly larger than needed so they overlap a bit. Apply the white glue to the back of the felt and attach it to the book.

Cut the felt for the bottom and attach it.

Since the top of the cut pages looks a bit messy due to pen marks, cut marks, and stray glue we are going to use a clean page to make it appear better. Take the last good page and attach it to the top of the cut pages with a glue stick.

Let dry.

Use a razor blade to cut it open. Be careful not to disturb the felt too much.

All done. Place the book on your coffee table and hide your unused remotes inside. Or find your own use for this book box.