Urban Survival Day 38 – Build an Outlet Safe

Hope everyone had a good Easter.  Mine was pretty relaxing and all I seemed to do was eat (I’m not complaining) but tomorrow we start the work week once again.  Maybe today’s tip will give you a project you can work on throughout the week to make things less dull.

38)  Build an Outlet Safe

If you don’t have the luxury of owning a wall safe, why not build yourself a smaller, less expensive version?  Outlet safes are affordable and easy to install.  And hiding your valuables behind what looks like an electrical outlet will fool most people.  Here are the steps recomended in the book, Urban Survival Guide, by Rich Johnson:

Get your parts:  Find your local hardware store and get “a faceplate, a residential-grade volt receptacle, a cut-in-box, and sme roofing nails and washers”.
Cut your hole:  Trace your “cut-in-box” on the wall where you wish to install it.  Using a drywall saw, cut out the hole.
Insert your box:  Insert your cut-in-box into the hole and fill it with whatever valuables you wish to hide.
Prepare the receptacle:  The receptacle has a hole on both the top and bottom.  Slide the nails through your washers and then through these holes.
Attach the receptacle:  “Attach the receptacle to the box by sliding the nails into the [cut-in-box’s] top and bottom holes”.
Cover with the faceplate:  “Screw the faceplate onto the receptacle”.

There you have it.  This week while you’re out and about, grab the supplies you need and get to work.  I’m lucky enough to have a full sized safe in my home, but for those of you who don’t this is certainly an economical method to secure your small valuables.

Urban Survival Day 36 – Stash Valuables in a Book

The weekend is here and today was beautiful.  The weather is going to be good for the next few days so hopefully I can squeeze in some time for shooting.  Need to refresh those skills I’ve been letting wither away.  Anyway, here’s a great indoor project you could do on a day when the weather isn’t that great:

36)  Stash Valuables in a Book

Smugglers have been hollowing out books for as long as books have been around.  After all, what cop would pause and read those dictionaries you have with you?  Having a “book safe” is not only a good idea, but fairly easy to do.  Besides, Hiding valuables is just as useful, if not more so, than smuggling things in them.  Urban Survival Guide, by Rich Johnson, provides some tips on creating your own hollowed-out book:

Pick a book – Choose a hardback book that blends in with other books on your shelf.  A book won’t protect your stuff if its plainly visible when you glance over the shelf.

Find where to begin:  Flip through 20 or 30 pages and pin them to the front cover of the book to hold them out of the way.

Use the right glue:  You want a glue that dries hard and remains clear.  Model car or puzzle glue should work just fine.

Apply the glue:  Use the glue to bind the pages (that haven’t been pinned to the cover) together.  The pages you bind together will be the ones you hollow out.

Let it dry:  Remove the pin you used to hold the first 20 or so pages and close the book.  Put it in a vice or under a heavy object to press the pages together firmly.  Leave it at least 24 hours to ensure a proper bond.

Start cutting:  Open the book and measure/mark the area you want to hollow out on the section of pages that have been glued together.  Use a razor (or other cutting tool) to remove the part of the book you marked.

If you’re not a do-it-yourself kind of person, hollowed out books are available online and are fairly cheap.  I would probably make my own just to save a few bucks though, but that’s just me.

Do you have any book safes of your own?  If so, what do you keep in them?