Secret Book Box (More Covert)

I have always been drawn to the secrecy and intrigue of a disguised book box, but the typical method of construction (covered well in other's Instructables) uses great gobs of glue to attach the pages together. This can visually effect the outside of the book, meaning that your secret stash (Say... chocolates, because what self-respecting secret agent doesn't conceal some on their person) is compromised and vulnerable to attack. Today I am making a book box which keeps each page distinct from it's neighbors, preserves the nice tactile experience of flipping through a book, and looks perfectly un-modified to boot.

Protect your valuables and explore this new method with me.

For this project, I used:

• a small notebook
• a piece of 1/8 plywood slightly larger than 2x the page size of my notebook
• a pair of dividers
• a drill
• 1/4 and 3/8 brad point bits
• a jewelers saw with spiral cut and regular blades
• a little hacksaw blade holder with a coarse blade
• a screwdriver
• an adjustable crescent wrench
• 1/4 20 bolts/nuts/washers

This project was an experiment, and my choice of saw left much to be desired. The jewelers saw had too short of a throat and the blades I used were too fine, while the hacksaw cut well but the blade was too wide to maneuver in my pilot holes. For this project, I would recommend a ~5" throat coping saw with a 15-20 TPI blade.

To cut or drill paper there needs to be some force holding it together, or else it will bend and tear rather than cutting cleanly. The traditional book-box method uses glue while I am using plywood to back my cuts and distribute external clamping force.

I started by scribing guide lines onto one of the plywood panels set to the wall thickness of the box. Then I drilled 1/4" holes through the center of the book to bolt the book together. These bolts provided more uniform clamping load and allowed me to shift the clamps around without having to worry about parts of my book shifting as well.

I then drilled 3/8" holes in the inside corners of the box to give myself space to start and end each saw cut. Another benefit of these holes is that they make the cut pages less likely to tear by minimizing sharp corner stress concentrations.

This step was a bear for me!

I used 3 different saw blades for this step and broke more than I care to admit.

But, with a more appropriate saw you'll get it knocked right out!.

Start in one of your corner holes and saw your way around the book, making sure to stay inside the scribed line with the saw vertical.

I love the air of mystery and intrigue that book boxes have about them, and this one is no exception! By eliminating the glue binder from the border of the pages, this method will remove all external indication that this is no ordinary notebook.

Your chocolates will be safe!