Disguising a gun cabinet

[mudslinging79]

what about covering it with lots of cutsie kids stickers??? make it look like a kids toy cabinet?

 

[Kitchen_Duty]

Well as far as buildable safes: I have a small review here:
Dakota Safe/RSC

You could build that for under $600 and then drop a large wardrobe around it with a lock on the outside, double the fun

 

[bogie]

-1

Heh, heh...

 

[.cheese.]

Safes like this? http://www.zanottiarmor.com/features1-3.html

They've been discussed here on THR numerous times.

well I'll be a monkey's uncle.

I must have missed whatever threads talked about that. I just went to Bass Pro and a couple locksmiths and safe stores around town. Nobody told me about that.

 

[DeerSlayer7600]

I have a cedar chest in my room that i keep my guns in, i just throw a couple deer hides over it.

 

[WayneConrad]

Paint it in bright, primary colors, and cover it in Barney stickers and the like. Pile some toys on top. etc.

If you don't have kids, it might be a bit hard to explain, though...

(I see that mudslinging79 got there, first).

 

[Rachen]

I think I might do that: what thief is gonna steal a coffee table?

Some old Victorian style furniture are actually so heavy that they are bolted down to the floors, and you get to know many of them in novels by Poe.

 

[rockstar.esq]

Well you could buy an old electric water heater from a junk yard and create a "skin" for it. That assumes that it'd look right in that location. Another idea is to take some 30 gallon plastic trash cans and create another skin. This works well in a garage because it looks like you've got stacked recycling or lawn debris in them. What it may lack in "smooth" it more than makes up for in being innocuous. I'd avoid anything that looks like shelving because lots of non gunny's hide their mad money in bookshelves and the like. The more likely it is to be simple junk, the less likely it is to get targeted.

 

[.cheese.]

I stripped all of the screws intentionally.

The only problem now that I have some ability to fix, is that the hinges' pins could be punched out and the doors taken off like that. Any ideas how to solve that?

I was thinking or replacing the pin with brass or steel bar and then welding a nut on both ends locking the hinge.

Then it'd be a matter of having to either cut through the lock or safety hasp, or breaking the doors which is tough because they're 3/4" sandply and don't snap easily. It could be done though.

This is just a temporary solution, but I want to tackle as many angles as I can.

 

[blkbrd666]

You could gut a large water heater, cut vertically just past center on each side, hinge with piano hinge, install in a narrow closet with louvered doors, attach piping and extend up through ceiling to anchor the top, anchor the bottom to a water heater stand, anchor stand to floor, build rack inside mounted on a Lazy Susan to rotate rifles around, build one vertical set of shelves down Lazy Susan to store handguns. Who would steal a water heater???

 

[Deer Hunter]

Some old Victorian style furniture are actually so heavy that they are bolted down to the floors, and you get to know many of them in novels by Poe.

Perhaps I could keep my guns in an oblong-safe?

 

[bwavec]

I cut into the dry wall and studs in the closet and set it flush into the wall (and secured into the studs with bolts so it just cannot be pulled out).....about a foot up off the ground. I painted the door to match the wall, and then put high voltage safety stickers on it. To look at it, you think you are looking at an oddly placed/over sized fuse panel. The clothes in the closet hang in front of it, so unless you move the clothes.....you don't even see it.

 

[Cannonball888]

 

[Bear2000]

Gun Cabinet - Dog Bed/Perch

I also have limited space and wanted a storage solution that wouldn't scream out that I have guns. At the same time, we I also wanted a place - a perch of sorts - for my dog to lay down and look out the window, his favorite activity. So, this is what I came up with: a chest with a stack-on 10 gun cabinet bolted inside. There is a lock on the chest to keep people out in addition to the cabinet lock. Of course, a thief with a large hammer or crowbar would get into both in no time, but they might do the same with an inexpensive safe. And hopefully they might not look in the first place. And I'm also considering building in a shelf above the cabinet and throwing some linens on top as one more precaution.

Anyway, it works great for me. Cost about $1300 to have custom built to my specs, holds five rifles and, so far, four handguns in cases. Two plastic rifle cases fit snugly alongside of the cabinet. I may outgrow it eventually and turn it into a toy chest for my daughter (who arrives in September), but for now, it's a nice piece of furniture thoroughly enjoyed by my Bear (dog) and Hugo (cat), one last and very formidable line of defense. (Yes, their names are monogrammed into the cushion - I really went overboard here!)

 

[.cheese.]

NICE!

The craftmanship on mine is not nearly as good as it is with yours. That is a real beauty.

Yours looks like a real piece of furniture. I'd never guess that you were storing stuff in there.

 

[Bear2000]

Thanks, cheese. I went round and round with three woodworkers until I finally found this very nice woman to do the job and she delivered exactly what I wanted.

 

[.cheese.]

I hope you don't mind me stealing your idea Bear2000.

I've started work on an ammo locker that will be disguised as a bench/hope-chest. It should go well with the gun cabinet which now I'm convinced easily passes as a wardrobe.

 

[win71]

While in college I once had 11 firearms stuffed in an 80 year old upright piano in the living room. Unless some music loving thief sat down to play chop sticks I was fine.

 

[mudslinging79]

i never thought of a gutted out upright piano... good idea!

 

[scrat]

get rid of the padlock. if anything make it so that when you go to open up the doors you have the padlock on the inside. then put some sport stickers on the outside. People will think you have a closet of football gear or baseball stuff rather than a lot of guns.