Secret CompartmentsA !u mituremaker's cache boxby Chris BecksvoortFig. 1: Secret compartments in drawersMethod 1: False back--- .. ---------------.------Compartment isaccessible whendrawer is pulledout beyond stop.False back isflush with caseat drawer stop.Conventionalkitchen drawerglideMethod 2: False bottomTurn drawer over,remove screw andslide bottom out. .,'/"/'Method 3: False bottomRemove screws anduse finger-hold toslide falsebottom out.Falsebottom42 Fine Woodworking)Secretcompartmentfor valuables1Two-pieceback andfalse bottomare screwedtogether.
Secret compartments were so common in the days beforesafety-deposit boxes that they could be considered a hallmarkof custom-built fu rniture. And, because hidden compartmentshave been popular among the well-to-do since ancienttimes, craftsmen have had plenty of time to come up with all sorts ofhiding places. They can be a simple drawer fit into otherwise wastedspace inside a cabinet or complex and imaginative devices based onhollow members, springs, catches and sliding panels-anything tofool the eye. Secret compartments are often commissioned fo r aspecific purpose, such as hiding coins, jewehy, precious documentsor pictures; sometimes they are the furnituremaker's whimsical secret,unbeknownst to the customer until the piece is delivered.These surprise compartments are my favorites. They allow methe most leeway in placement, size and construction; in addition,the customer feels like the recipient of a gift-an unexpected bonus.It also seems only right that a hidden compartment should be asecret shared only by d1e furnituremaker and the furniture's owner.Let's face it, a hidden compartment advertised in Tbe New Ym-ker isno secret by anyone's standards, but merely a sales gimmick.Some types of fu rniture lend themselves better to hidden compartmentsthan others. The best are case pieces with drawers anddesks with pigeonholes. But tables, beds, clocks and even lampscan be adapted to contain these intriguing tricks of the trade. I'lldescribe some of tho e I've used in my own work or seen in otherpieces of fu rniture. These examples are only a few of the possibilities:There are many others, from the extremely simple to theclever and complicated. The next time you're designing a piece,take a little extra time to examine how you can utilize any wastedspace in the fu rniture. You'll be amazed at how thrilled yourcustomers will be.Drawers -Years ago while working on a kitchen, it occurred tome that most drawer glides, except the fu ll-extension models,leave the back 4 in. of the drawer essentially inaccessible. So I rana cross-grain dado 3 Yz in. from the back end on each drawer sideand inserted a side-to-side divider. When the drawer is pulled o i ltto the stop, as shown in method 1 on d1e facing page, the falseback is flush with the case. When the glide stops are released,the drawer can be pulled out to access d1e long narrow compartmentbeyond the fa lse back. This area is good for storing seldomusedutensils or those that have always disappeared when youneed them most.One of the best methods for hiding photos, documents or otherflat objects is a double-bottom drawer. If d1e compartment betweenthe bottoms is kept as thin as possible, it is virtually undetectable,but the trick in thiS, as well as in other med10ds, is not to getgreedy. If you pull out a 6-in. drawer and discover only 3 in. ofspace inside, something appears amiss-you are not fooling anyone.On the other hand, you can probably get away with a 2-in.compartment in a 12-in.- or 14-in.-deep drawer.The bottoms of my drawers are slid from the back into groovesin the drawer sides. To create a secret compartment, I run parallelgrooves on d1e insides of the drawer sides and front, Yz in. to1 in. apart. ll1e back only gets the upper groove, because the actualbottom is slid underneath it and held in place wid1 a screw. Whenthe drawer is assembled, the false bottom is captured in the fourupper grooves. The real bottom can be slid in and out to get to thehidden compartment (see method 2 on the facing page). An alternativemethod is shown in method 3. The two-piece back wid1 arecessed finger-hold allows the false bottom to be slid out. Althoughthe spaces created by these double bottoms are not easilydetectable, they are bothersome to get to, because the contents ofthe drawer must be removed. In the first case, the drawer must beturned upside down to place anything into the compartment; inthe second case, the false bottom, which is acting as the drawerbottom, must be removed. To avoid having to empty the drawer,you could use the two-piece back method, but attach d1e lowersection of the back to the actual bottom of the drawer so they bothslide out together, forming a tray, as shown in method 4 below.Taking d1is a step fu rther, you could put sides all around d1is trayand create a minidrawer.The traditional construction of a chest of drawers presents anotheropportunity fo r hidden compartments. Visualize for a momentthe interior of an average case piece with drawers and a faceframe. On such pieces, there is often unused space behind d1eface-frame members, both between the case side and the drawersand between the drawers themselves. This space can be utilized bysimply building narrow wooden boxes to fi t into these locations.These boxes are totally hidden unless someone removes the drawersto look inside the case. Even if the divider strip between the drawersis only 1 in. wide, a flat box with Ys-in.-thick sides still yieldsabout % in. of usable interior space. Any number of methods canbe employed to secure the box: magnets, dowels, ledger strips,inset spinners or sliding pins.Some time ago, I was commissioned to build a chest of drawersthat required a vely well-hidden compartment for 10 gold coins.The usual false bottoms or boxes hidden in the case itself might bediscovered. Security was the primary concern; access was secondaly.I finally devised an "invisible" compartment, built the pieceand delivered it. I told the owner it was up to him to find thecompartment. He paid. I left. A few days later, he called to confesshe still had not found the secret compartment. He had removed allthe drawers and gone over the entire inside of the case with amirror, a magnet and a fine-tooth comb to no avail. I told him toMethod 4: False bottomLower portion oftwo-piece backslides out withbottom.Method 5: Mortised backTurn drawer over,remove screw andslide bottomout.Screws throughback secureboth bottoms.Drawings: Kathleen CrestonJanuary/February 1989 43
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