Sweet. I got tons of old reader's digest books laying around.

dremal tools also work to cut pages out, especially if doing a specific design cut out (such as a rock-hammer holding bible ala shawshank redemption). The dremal makes quick work of 30-40 pages at a time, and sometimes the heat of the cutting disk burns the inside edges, leaving smooth brown lines on the inside.

This might very well be the most awesome idea I've ever seen. Now I just have to find a book...

cool, now I have to make one

Just to add to the idea, I have one that someone baought me, it's three books together. The Books were glued together, and then the covers as well at the pages were cut through. This provides 2 wonderful advantages. #1) You could potentially make your "secret hollow book" as deep as you want it, and #2) looks cool on the bookshelf, as it looks like you simply have a bunch of books pushed together, and only you know the truth!

Putting three of them together is an intriguing idea. But they are likely to come apart because there's no binding to hold them together....maybe if you use superglue to hold the individual books together.

Here's another idea, cut some holes in side of the book, leaving some spaces for magnets or your choosing. Viola the book will stay closed should someone remove it from the shelf.

Multiple books can be held together with long skinny bolts. Use a template to cut through each book separately so the knife or Dremel tool will reach. leave the back cover open on the last book, and drill through the book corners and countersink for the bolts before gluing the back cover on.
Some people have suggested other things to put in a hollow book, like a hidden wireless router or a hidden camera.
I'd frown on using a bible - It would be best to use a book that people think you might actually read. (Pride and Prejudice would look suspect for a "manly-man".)

I actually used this when backpacking in Europe. When rummaging through your stuff no one wants to steal your beatup copy of "A tale of two cities".

I am sure this saved me several times.

crap. and what if i HAVE read 'pride and prejudice'?

dammit! i'm not manly. :)


this idea, however, is ultra-manly. kudos.

i don't even have anything to HIDE, and i want to do this. :)

I find that any old Bill Clinton Biography books work best

YOU CUT UP 'TALE OF TWO CITIES?'

I don't even know you, and I hate you.

This is a really awesome idea. I think that I'm going to make my first one out of Simulacra & Simulation, which was the secret hollow book that Neo pulled the optical disks out of in the beginning of the Matrix. It's a great book though, Jean Baudrillard is quite an astute observer of modernity.

One important factor not covered is the book you choose for this project. If you use a print version of "Girls Gone Wild" people will be apt to pick it up off the shelf. When I was in college, 30 years ago, I did this project using Maslow's "Systems Process" and no one touched it for years.

I'm a burgler - now I now where to look.

I've definitely got a few text books I can use to do this. Kudos to the submitter. Thanks for the instructions

what is the purpose of saving the last page to glue on top, and then cutting through it just like the others?

Works pretty well with a Moleskine. I use a hollowed-out mini Moleskine to hold my iPod.
iPod in a Moleskine

Woops. Wrong URL.
iPod in a Moleskine

The saving of that first page on top is because you probably marked up the page after it with measurements like in the picture, so that last page covers those markings up making it look nice and clean. I love the idea and also the magnet idea to keep it closed. I just feel bad about ruining a book.

i did it and it is pretty awsome but the cutting out part is ALOT harder than i had expected it to be...!

Of course, you could always buy a hollow book from Amazon. Their double book is only $20.

Excellent, but remember for security through obscurity you should place the book on a shelf with other similar looking books. It's no good having one hardback on a shelf of national geographics :)

Save me from a few beating when I took my Warhammer min's to school

Yes. I now have a use for all those old EE books that Bookmans won't take.

Nice article. And it is true, there is nothing new under the sun.
I did this to a book I didn't particularly like about 30 years ago!!!.
And yes, I used white glue back then. I did not glue the outside though. Only the inside. Looks a little more authentic perhaps.

Lol, Bill Clinton biography! my thoughts exactly.

Lol, Bill Clinton biography! my thoughts exactly.

Am I alone in thinking that the best thing about this post was that you just happened to have some old hard disk platters lying around?

I miss my PDP11/23.

Hehe... good one :)

you could use a sheet protector instard of spacer

Book version of Girls Gone Wild?

Where? Where???

After all, the book is ALWAYS better than the movie...

What's a "book"? Is that one of those old-fangled things with words printed on paper? ;-)

A book is just too great a thing to be cut in such a way... for me at least.

Gives a whole new meaning to "kill another tree". This idea is great and all the ideas are super too. Maybe if I was around 30 years ago I would've done the same thing. "OOOhhhh, I'm Mr. Old-and-experienced and I did it when you were still pooping green in your diapers. Let me just keep all my tid-bits of experience and information to myself." Thanks, Dude.
Now go take your Geritol and goto sleep- a-hole.

"what is the purpose of saving the last page to glue on top, and then cutting through it just like the others?"

It's to cover up the lines you initially drew to cut the book apart.

Speaking of security--what about using one of those blank diary books with the locks. Adds a bit of security without increasing suspision.

I made one out of a Bible, no one ever opens that. Works great.

"Here's another idea, cut some holes in side of the book, leaving some spaces for magnets or your choosing. Viola the book will stay closed should someone remove it from the shelf."

Here's my choosing: Velcro closures.

Now make this a case mod and install a computer mother board and necessary accessories inside.

Memorize books before burning.

I did this in high school and used an old physics textbook. It was something I was expected to have on my shelf, but something no one would casually take off the shelf to read or browse.

You could use a dictionary, then the only chance you've got of it being opened is if you're the kind of person that allows that sort of thing during a game of scrabble.

And that also means you're the kind of person that plays scrabble.

How many pages are best to leave unglued at the front?

Yeah i think a blog post with just lotsa photos of that HDD platter would rock. From different angles/angels (sp?) and back grounds. Perhaps the HDD platters could do more then just add weight to a book glue time. Perhaps it could be shown saving a cat from a tree and a child from a burning building, and helping an old lady cross the road. Ok, maybe i just think the HDD Platter is sexy... SO WHAT!?

I did this 20 or so years ago when I was a kid with a computer dictionary from the 70s that I got at a library sale. I'm not sure what the point of saving a page just to cut it is, I never did that... Also wax paper or plastic wrap would be a better divider.

However, be warned: I also diluted glue with water, and the result was a book that looked like I dropped it in a bathtub. So, don't go nuts with the glue and water and press it relly well when it dries. Be neat: it will pay off in the end.

Try using a packing foam material to cushion the impact of the items inside the book. Semipermenant items should be padded for traveling.

Years ago, I hid all those trinkets among other junk. Now I can't find them.

This is great, i find that the harry potter books work best if that helps

For travel, it would make sense to have some sort of locking system, like a magnetic clasp(assuming you aren't storing floppies or something.) I made one of these when I was a kid and used it quite a bit. I converted a book from a library sale called "General Crack" from the early 1900's.
Never choose a provacative name for a book like this. Choose boring, but apropo to your personality.

I did this when I was 7 (shit, 25 years ago) but didn't get around to gluing it or anything. Worked fine loose-leaf.

The best thing was the book I chose : It was a hardback from the second-hand store 10c bin, called "The Disappearance" :-B :-B

My mum still uses it today for petty cash!

I did this for Crispness presents years ago when I was strapped for cash. Kids love secret places to hide stuff.

I got the books from a used bookstore. I told the guy what I was going to do and he brought out a box of unsellable books - Reader's Digest Condensed Books and such - which he sold to me all for one dollar. I didn't feel bad about sacrificing those books. He was probably going to throw them out anyway.

Even if you have a variable speed model, a Dremel tool turns much too quickly to cut paper. It tends to burn it's way through and quickly becomes fouled with carbon. If you must, put it on it's slowest speed and use a router bit with only one or two blades.

Here's another idea that I have done. I had an old external CD-ROM drive that had gone on to meet it's manufacturer. Instead of throwing it out, I took it apart and threw away the guts. Then I made a wooden drawer to fit and attached the faceplate to the front. It still has all the ports and stuff on the back so I could even "plug it in". It's been sitting near my computer for years and no one has given it a second glance.
GrinfilledCelt

This is so sexy

when drying glue it helps to use a hair dryer

Cool, I'm off to the library with this card I found at the bus stop!
Make sure you make it big enough to hold a DVD case

Cool...make sure it's big enough for a DVD case,
I'm off to get some books with this library card I found at the bus stop!

I keep my stuff in a box at the bank. It doesn't cost much and comes with a key and everything! So far they haven't complained about the Freash Herbal smell or my daily visits!

By far, the best book to hollow out would be "Atlas Shrugged" by Ayn Rand. It's over 1000 pages thick, and it's so boring that no one will miss it. You'll do the world a service by using it. Plus, anyone in their right mind won't touch it. It's that bad.

Great idea! But Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged is...amazing. I don't see how you could think otherwise. I recommend an old, beat-up James Michener book.

Atlas Shrugged is awesome, fuck you.

i highly suggest doing this with bibles.. what use are they otherwise?

Tsk tsk tsk children. The bible is HOLY and not meant to be HOLE-Y!

I'm using a microsoft Visual C++ reference book. A fitting end for a MS book, being covered in goo and cut up.

Funny all these people telling you that the idea is old. In fact everything we do has usually been done before.
The first hollow book I saw was rather small and contained a little pistol. I saw it in a museum (don't remember which one - but I guess in Venice), the pistol was an antique model around the 16th or 17th century and the book?
You guessed it: it was a bible.
Looks like priests too needed a gun in the dark nights in the cities of that time.

it would be pretty badass to, as someone said, put a motherboard in one... the only problem being that you cant fit an entire coputer in one book so you could make like one book with a motherboard, another with hard drive, another with cd drives that open in some interesting and hidden way and make them all connect together really cratively, then your bookshelf is converted into a completely spy like computer....

(or you could just use a regular computer, but wheres the fun there?)

dude... ill use some of my moms old novels. omg this idea is so cool. u can hide stuff from ur older brother

HA NOW ALL KNOW WHERE !YOU! WHERE YOU ARE PUTTED YOUR THINGS

Lietuva waldo o jus anglai gajdziai

je lietuwa waldo:)bet anglai ne gaidziai:)

LIETUVA LIETUVA LIETUVA! mes geriausi ir taskas .

I sew that in SIMPSONS show!
As maciau tapati per Simpsonus.

Lietuva waldo!Anglai lopai gaidziai paskutiniai!

Lietuva lietuva :D lietuviui lietuvis - latvis :D
englai duxai

ei ei chebra...nevarykit ant zmoniu, nebukit prakeikti nacionalistai ar siaip kokie profasistinio judejimo nariai - jie juk irgi zmones. ar ne? and one more thing - write in english, please ;)

jei neturit ka gero pasakyti, tai patylekit ir nedarykit savo saliai gedos

I have the PERFECT book for this. "Websters Modern Encyclopedia of Dictionaries" Should work well,

bollocks o got a bokk, its the HOLY BIBLE now ill have to wait untill next week to get another book

As a Bible school student, I oppose to the use of Bibles for this.

Not for moral reasons, but because my intensive interaction with them has shown me their flimsiness.

Bible pages rip waaaay too easy for this to be effective, the paper's not even thick enough to be called paper. It's like tissue paper with writing on it.

use wood glue its better and dires clear

now i have to make one!

I did this in about 2 1/2 hours... It was the greatest 2 1/2 hours of my life. lol

I made one of these years and years ago, with a suitably anonymous (dull) hardcover that I had around. It was actually a library discard, an old almanac of some kind. It was a bit more obvious back then (I had far fewer books, and this didn't blend in well with what I did have), but it would be a great technique to use now (given that I have thousands of hardcovers. I should revisit this sometime.

Me being a person who likes to eat found a book that is boring that works well...A World Of Cheese

i just made one of these out of a star trek reader III book lol.

''Of course, you could always buy a hollow book from Amazon. Their double book is only $20.''

now wheres the fun in that mate?

try using a pocket knife that works great too!

im going to make it with some help provided by my grandmother.(Im 12 dont blame me)!!!:-)

Thanks, I am going to have to try this out. I have some books that were supposed to go to the Goodwill, I will just grab a few of those! By the way, I put up a link to this page in the survivalist section over at http://www.hoardingcopper.com

I was wondering if anyone out there ever came across one of these hollow books probably produced commercially in the 1940's or so called the Diary of a Street Sweep? Inside were a dust pan and straw broom. it was something my sisters and I were supposed to leave alone... Of course we played with it so much we lost the tools, and shredded the book. Perhaps there is someone old, out there who would remember.

I didn't have a hardcover book, so I glued recycled paper together, and used some bookbinding skills, and turned it into a hardcover book. This project it great. The only thing wrong with mine is that some pages come apart when you try to flatten the pages.

A great way to speed up the page-cutting process is to use an electric drill to make a hole at each corner through all of the pages at once (make sure you don't drill through the back cover). Then you just have to cut straight lines between the holes instead of having to cut the corners, which I thought was the hardest part on the first book I hollowed out.

the drill idea is great. to avoid drilling through the cover(s), just flip them away from the rest of the book. :) my neighbours old dictionary fits my flamethrower rather snugly

The classic secret book is one of those things that you hear about but ever get a firm idea on how to make one. I think one of these would make a great case for an iPod or maybe even a robot. Thanks for the tutorial.

sweet. i had a go at one of these before, but too much water made it all shriveled up. i didnt think about just gluing the outside!

another thing you can try is opening up a VHS, removing everything with a dremel. put it back together, Then just press the little button that releases the tape cover and you can store passports, money etc..

That guide looked like one from yoshi's modding forums. It's cool though.

Even better idea..gut an old laptop, fill it with crap, leave it somewhere in public and see who takes it then imagine what they say when they realise that it's filled with crap. Ok, so I'm bored.

This is an awesome technique! Another thing you could do is use a book to cover a floating shelf. Instead of having a margin on all sides, cut all the way out on the side, then glue around the shelf. That way you can float a few books in the air.

I did this a while back and it works great - it sits on my bedside table in a stack of other books, nobody ever suspects that it has condoms in it!

I did this but with a magnetic lock.


You can slide a razor/boxcutter under the flap of paper on the inside cover, and peel it back. Then you can cut a square out of the cartboard so that you can place a flat piece of metal flush with the rest of the cardboard. Then glue it back down. Then, before you glue the pages together, flip 20 or 30 pages in and cut a hole for a strong little neodymium magnet. Glue it in. Once you have that installed, you can glue the pages and cut as normal, being careful not to hit the magnet. Once it's all done, the cover will stay securely shut due to the magnet.

I'm currently hollowing a bible using this guide. I could have used The Illiad, but I kinda want to read that, plus the Bible can fit so much more stuff.

Ok who said Harry Potter works best?!? How could you cut up Harry Potter?!?!

Oh, well. I like the diary idea. Here's an idea:
Separate it in the middle and glue both halves so it looks like you are halfway through the book.





www.wahaooiee.blogspot.com

I use a variety of books. Old thick paperbacks are good but I've found old out of date dictionaries and almanc books are best. Hell one was so big I added a magnetic closure and straps and made it into a neat purse for my girlfriend, an English major.

"How could you cut up Harry Potter?!?!"
yeah, how could you? ;-)
seriously, the latest Tom Clancy works best. you could murder people by hitting them on the head with it.

And the best place to hide your Smith&Wesson or Koch&Heckler would be "To Kill a Mockingbird".

btw, the posts here are priceless... those were funnier than the entire season of (insert title here).

I have a book I bought at a used book store thinking it was a real treasure as it dates to 1733. Lo & behold I found out it is hollowed out inside and has a note inside that states "this is a butterfly worn by Marie Antoinette of France". Of course there is nothing else inside but the note. Does anyone know if these have any worth if they are antique books being used?

I just made one out of a massive biology text book. It took me 4 hours total. I sped it up alot by using a 8 mm drill on all the corners. This saved the carefull corner cutting I had been doing before. Tomorrow I will try doing an entire book using a router.

"I just made one out of a massive biology text book..."
What?!?! You could re-sell that to your campus bookstore and earn a couple of bucks at the least! ;-)

"Tomorrow I will try doing an entire book using a router."
How about a chainsaw? ;-P

If you use rubbing alcohol instead of water in your glue solution, it will evaporate quicker and neater.

Kool. Still working on mine, grrr the stupid corners are having issues. Now I can put a pistol in there like V for Vendetta. I am 12, and I am doing it, so obviously its pretty easy.

I'm going to try this with both my College Dictionary and my A+ Certification Exam Guide; both of which will never be used as reading material again anyways.

And who says that you don't get anything from going to college? I got two books that'll make great hide-n-seek places to stash 'things'. ^__^

THIS DOCUMENT IS IN VIOLATION OF COPYRIGHT LAWS FROM WIKIHOW.COM SO YOU DIDN'T EVEN MAKE THIS UP THE PERSON WHO POSTED THIS

You are referrig to this article. It's not in violation of copyright laws. They copied it from us. Read the credits

I think that is a really cool idea. i just need to find a good book to do it with. got any ideas?¿


i will probably find a cheep thick book