I have been trying to find any books or blueprints for making hidden or secret locks, latches you name it. If you have seen the movie National Treasure, with the resolute desk, with its trick door… that is what I am looking for. For instance, I built a hidden bar for a client, wanted to do some kind of hidden latch sequence to get the door to open. Tried magnets and some other latches but really did not work to well. Now I am building him a office and would like to do some hidden storage areas and drawers. If anyone knows of some good books, Please let me know.
Thanks
Chad
A fellow over on owwm.org is in the long process of building a roentgen desk with a lot of mechanical features. He's blogged about it extensively on a thread on that site.
Woodcraft Magazine Vol. 15/91 OCT/NOV 19 had an article titled "Top Secret Table" by Larissa Huff with several different types of locks mentioned. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) lock, a dowel incased magnet lock, and standard magnetic push locks are all used to show the different types one could use in a woodworking project.
Hope this helps.
To me, that is part of the fun of design, so I make all my own plans and mechanisms. But that doesn't help you. There are two classes of secret compartments, hard-to-open and hidden-in-plain-sight. Do you want to have an obvious door/drawer just hard to open, or do you want to have areas that no one expects to be a compartment?
I had the pleasure of going through an Empire Traveling Desk (Walnut so old it was almost blond). I found about a dozen compartments, from the typical decorative fluted pillars that are tall drawers to a ribbon-suspended box behind and below a secret cubby hole. I think I found then all, but…
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