interesting gun safe idea

[Skillet]

So we are looking into getting another safe or building one, and the need brought an idea that I am wondering if will work.

okay so you buy a safe, medium sized, about 1000 bucks. somewhat fireproof, and has a combo lock on it.

then you start building a cabinet. a nice looking wood cabinet that has a door that somewhat frames the door of the safe. mind you that the safe and the cabinet do not touch. the cabinet has about two to four inches of a border around the door of the safe. that perimeter is where you put the door. maybe double doors, I don't know. then, you put some extra shelving up top above the safe inside the cabinet, those can be drawers or just shelving. basically I am imagining a hovering shell around the safe itself, to make it look better and to sort of conceal the safe. then dress it up with carvings or trim or a crown somewhat like is what on top of a grandfather clock on the top. this is going to be a good six to seven foot tall cabinet.

this has a few good sides to it-

the wife is not constantly complaining about having a big ugly safe in a room.

at first glance, you would never know that this is a safe. this conceals it, making it a less obvious object that a would be theif would try and open or crack or just take along with them. I mean think about it, even if they leave it and are unsuccessful at breaking in the safe, you dont want some ugly crow bar marks on your safe, that makes it look bad!

just a thought. if you had a lighter safe you could even put the cabinet up on legs like a high boy type dresser and build a sturdy frame at the bottom to make it look even more inconspicuous.

 

[EHCRain10]

I like it, the idea of building a closet around the safe is better though, even more inconspicuous.

 

[wishin]

Or, a nice curtain/drape that seems to cover a non-existent window. Cheaper too.

 

[danprkr]

Urban camouflage is never a bad idea. If you're in central TX, I may have a good cabinet guy for you, give me an IM, and I'll put the 2 of you together.

 

[fireman 9731]

It reminds me of the old safe that was in Butch Casiddy and the Sundance Kid Or one of the old Eastwood movies, I can't remember off the top of my head, but one of those old wooden safes you would see in old western movies... I like the idea, and I'm sure yours will look better.

I always had an idea to build a bookshelf on hinges in front of a safe...

 

[Shadow Man]

I like that idea.

If you are ever building your own home, you could go one step further and build it into the wall, like built-in bookshelves, you know?

(I'm working up plans for my own home, so I'm slightly in that frame of mind )

 

[Zip7]

Here's mine - in progress. This will eventually be a tall cabinet with two safes in the bottom and a large shelf above. Doors on front. We haven't slid the second safe into it's hole yet, but that is about the next step.

I'm actually going to frame the safe in so that only the door is visible when you open the cabinet doors. Will have 2x4 framing surrounding the edges of both safes right up to the safe door itself.

 

[Shung]

my safe is in a closet... but guys, dont forget.. burglars throw every closet stuff on the ground and look for valueable items.. your better chance is to bolt your safe on walls and ground.. and make it very hard to work around..

 

[cornman]

Keep the safe empty in full view and hide the guns someplace else.

 

[jkingrph]

My safe is in a garage corner( heated and cooled garage), bolted to floor. This "garage" serves as my woodworking/gun workshop so door is rarely opened. To hide the safe, I took a piece of "I" track from a RV supply house, bent it to cover two sides, then had a full length ceiling to floor curtain made. At least when door is opened, it looks more like a make do darkroom than a safe in the corner.

 

[gym]

Make it really hard to remove, as mentioned, burglars do this for a living, they already know all the tricks. If you can run rebarb and concrete or whatever works in your dwelling do so. Don't count on hiding it as your main stratagy. Assume they will find it and try to make it so time consuming to get it out or break in to it, that it's wasting too much of their time. You should have an alarm screaming and going to a central monitoring station, "I know times are tough", if you can squeeze the extra 10-30 dollars per month,it can save you a lot in damage. . And a dog in the house to deter anyone from coming in to begin with. I know not everyone can have a dog for one reason or another, but if you can, they are your best security.

 

[Skillet]

if it is bolted to the floor there is no way they are getting it out of there unless if they go under the house, which won't happen, and there is your problem solved. just get a sturdy safe.

 

[JoeShmoe]

Thief: "Gee, I wonder what's in that big cabinet?"

 

[Fumbler]

I think some of you might be missing the point.

Those who build cabinets around safes (or are thinking about doing that) don't believe that it's going to keep burglars from finding and stealing the safes.
It would be absurd to think that's all it takes. I'm sure they're still bolting the safes down.

I think the point of this thread is to simply deal with the visual aspects of having a safe in your home. They're not pretty, why not hide them?
The minute possibility of a burglar in a hurry overlooking one cabinet is just a small side benefit.

 

[Extremely Pro Gun]

mines in my closet... bolted to the floor and walls. the closet door is one of these numbers----->

 

[dmazur]

if you had a lighter safe you could even put the cabinet up on legs like a high boy type dresser and build a sturdy frame at the bottom to make it look even more inconspicuous.

This may be a problem. The safe has to be fastened to something, or they will simply drag it off and open it at their leisure. If you bolt through the back of the safe to the studs in the wall, you could have the safe up on a stand. If the wall isn't suitable for that, then you need to be able to bolt it to the floor.

(It kind of depends on whether you'd rather have holes in your sheetrock or holes in your floor... )