MAKE | Make: Projects – Doortop Stash

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By Sean Michael Ragan
Posted 2011/03/11 @ 6:13 am
Category Computers & Mobile, Craft, Furniture

What does the top edge of say, your utility closet door look like? I’m betting that you’ve probably never seen it, even if you’ve lived in your home for awhile. And although there’s not a lot of room to hide stuff in there, well, if you’re like me, the stuff you want to hide is usually on the smaller side. Not many people think of the space inside the door as a hiding spot, but it’s right there in easy reaching distance when you need to get to it. And it’s devious enough that, yes, I think this trick will still be effective even after we blog it all over the tubes.

In the Maker Shed

70 Responses to Make: Projects – Doortop Stash

Becky Stern on March 11th, 2011 at 2:24 pm said:

I agree, useful even after it’s blogged all over the place, except at /your/ house! =] Nice project, Sean.

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Anonymous on March 11th, 2011 at 2:58 pm said:

I hope that the police see this and make use of it when searching houses.

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- Sean Michael Ragan on March 11th, 2011 at 3:02 pm said:
  
  I hope so, too! Our penetration into the police demographic could be
  a lot better.
  
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- Nathanael Phillips on March 11th, 2011 at 3:09 pm said:
  
  I think this is great for “personal use” like stashing important private data that you don’t want stolen by petty criminals (or parents, kids, whatever).
  
  But most of the stuff posted around for hiding places I would think are pretty obvious for law enforcement searches. You’re going to need something a lot better than anything presented around here if you’re trying to hide things from the Feds. At least, I would certainly hope so.
  
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  Napalm Nate on July 7th, 2011 at 9:48 pm said:
  
  The best way to hide anything from any kind of authority is to hide said object(s) away from one’s living space. In another building or outdoors. Also by making sure to only open said stash when absolutely necessary and by making sure you’re not followed/watched.
  
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  Jim Sadler on August 27th, 2011 at 11:00 am said:
  
  Dominion and control define possession. So if you are trying to isolate yourself legally from a stash then it is important for it to not be on your property. Also seizure of private property is not uncommon for certain crimes so your trove won’t be available to you if you are swept up. So you need to hide things in a public space that will not be altered by man or nature over a span of time.
  So all you have to do is worry about people who hunt troves as a very serious hobby or make a living on their finds. There are more people than you can imagine who seek buried treasures of various types and some are a lot more skilled and dedicated than any cops you might be worried about. It is not at all unusual for troves to be recovered quietly with no mention of it ever being made. Apparently burglars who hide items likely to get them convicted in hope that time provides the cover that they need often do not get back to their troves and you may be locating items stolen in crimes in decades gone by.
  
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- Anonymous on March 12th, 2011 at 3:03 am said:
  
  I’ll bet you’re loads of fun at parties.
  
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- Ant OSullivan on March 12th, 2011 at 11:40 am said:
  
  on tv last week here in Australia, police bust drug dealer, found one stash in top half of hollowed out door
  
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- Anonymous on March 12th, 2011 at 4:20 pm said:
  
  Police always checked the doors as they are common places to hide contraband. Most commonly its hidden behind a mirror that covers a hole to the hollow door, one thing that this has going for it is that its hard to reach so it may be missed, but an officer could just reach the top and feel for any irregularities to the door.
  
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- Courtney Rae Johnson on April 3rd, 2011 at 6:44 am said:
  
  what a downer..dont hate appreciate
  
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- Ned Carter on April 6th, 2011 at 12:13 pm said:
  
  I smell a snitch.
  
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- Dasha Hawk on April 11th, 2011 at 10:20 pm said:
  
  i hope you get busted for whatever you do thats against the law…..everyone does something illegal…
  
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  Jon Geler on June 10th, 2011 at 4:12 am said:
  
  Including yourself. Such as speeding. Go 5 mph over the speed limit! I DARE YOU!
  
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  Jon Geler on June 10th, 2011 at 4:12 am said:
  
  Including yourself. Such as speeding. Go 5 mph over the speed limit! I DARE YOU!
  
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- Stephanie Ann Dawson on April 26th, 2011 at 10:57 pm said:
  
  Yes, lets spend more of our tax money on the tiny quarter sack of weed that can fit in the hole, as if we aren’t in debt enough.
  
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  leslie estrada on August 1st, 2011 at 9:34 pm said:
  
  How would that be spending tax money? It’s for a person to hide something they feel is valuable, a personal choice and therefore a personal expense…Let it be….
  
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  leslie estrada on August 1st, 2011 at 9:34 pm said:
  
  How would that be spending tax money? It’s for a person to hide something they feel is valuable, a personal choice and therefore a personal expense…Let it be….
  
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  Alex Rupert on August 7th, 2011 at 4:38 pm said:
  
  clearly you didn’t read the comment she was replying to.
  
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  Alex Rupert on August 7th, 2011 at 4:38 pm said:
  
  clearly you didn’t read the comment she was replying to.
  
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  Mackenzie Hans on October 23rd, 2011 at 7:02 am said:
  
  im pretty sure they were talking about police raids investigating peoples doors. how do you think the cops get paid? bake sales?
  
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- Aaron on April 6th, 2013 at 5:30 pm said:
  
  “I hope that the police see this and make use of it when searching houses.”
  
  I gotta say, your reply makes you sound like kind of a d*ckbag.
  
  What were you going for with that, anyway? You sound as if you think this post was intended to help people hide heroin from the police or something. I’d say it’s probably intended as, and certainly far more useful for, hiding small important items from potential thieves / snoops.
  
  Aside from the fact that the tone of your comment is ignorantly anti-privacy, anti-freedom, and seemingly in favor of the atrocious “War On Drugs” which has done innumerable amounts of damage to society, it usually takes a bit more than a simple trick like this when trying to stash stuff from the cops. Well, if they have good reason to suspect you, and they’re really intent on finding something, that is. All things considered, though, I suppose you could do worse.
  
  The fact is that most “criminals” who have something to hide in their homes, typically do not “hide” it very well, if at all. And those “serious” criminals who are intent on safely storing contraband, typically know what they’re doing, and rely on tricks considerably more advance than seen here.
  
  Again, I say I’m not sure what the point of your comment was, other than signaling to the world your hatred of privacy and freedom, your love of the police state, and generally overall how much of a deluded, self-righteous ****** you are.
  
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Matthew Miller on March 11th, 2011 at 4:12 pm said:

I’m a big fan of putting “Easter Eggs” in places you live for future owners / tenants to find. This could be a fun option for doing that. If the door is in part of the house with relatively stable temperature conditions I might even hide a few hot pepper and tomato seeds for future owners to discover. I’m trying to grow Lady apple trees from seed and if they come out well this might be a fun way to hide some seeds in the house for replanting in the distant future.

I wonder what people would think, finding a collection of seeds in a hidden capsule in a door. Should I include a letter explaining what they are, or simply a vague note reassuring them that it’s nothing illegal?

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- Alan on March 11th, 2011 at 5:22 pm said:
  
  I regret not having gotten around to planting any “Easter eggs” back in my apartment-living days. I thought about it several times, but then always seemed to get bogged down in other things and not following through.
  
  As for the apple seeds, you should pick a different plant. Apples don’t breed true from seed. The tree that grows from your Lady apple seeds not only won’t be a Lady, it will most likely yield completely unpalatable fruit.
  
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- Lexi Hanson on March 17th, 2011 at 10:58 am said:
  
  Maybe this explains the sea shell I found when I moved in. Leave a note, it seems more purposeful. But maybe write it in the form of a riddle or poem.
  
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- Nancy Sandoval on March 17th, 2011 at 3:47 pm said:
  
  Who cares?
  
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  Cindi on April 17th, 2011 at 8:22 pm said:
  
  Nancy – I’m sorry you have no imagination or vision. Bummer for you !
  
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  Kristin Monahan on September 20th, 2011 at 2:32 pm said:
  
  You cared enough to respond. Even if it was a dumb response.
  
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- Cindi on April 17th, 2011 at 8:19 pm said:
  
  You could make it like a treasure hunt – hide clues that lead to clues. it might be a good way to preserve some history and/or get uninterested people to replant your seeds. I love it!
  
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- Lia Rue Ripple on August 4th, 2011 at 9:56 pm said:
  
  Yes, you should leave a note explaining! I used to do stuff like this all the time…I always wanted to be the one to find something, though!
  
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- Lia Rue Ripple on August 4th, 2011 at 9:56 pm said:
  
  Yes, you should leave a note explaining! I used to do stuff like this all the time…I always wanted to be the one to find something, though!
  
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Staff de SPK (Gilberto) on March 12th, 2011 at 7:58 pm said:

Cool, I love clever ways to hide things, ha ha

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Jim Sadler on March 12th, 2011 at 8:11 pm said:

For a better stash that will tend to pass even a police search do not use any metal as a detector can find it. Drill the door’s bottom so that the door must be taken down to open the stash. Use a plastic tube to hold the stash. And plug the drilled hole with a tight fitting wood plug that is painted.
Also if you have wall to wall carpet you might consider rolling up carpet and drilling a hole and placing the plastic tube into the hole and covering it with a hard epoxy or stucco. Thieves and officials normally do not remove the carpet from a home during a search. Juts make certain that the carpet looks perfectly installed. These are long term storage tricks.

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vida on March 15th, 2011 at 7:05 am said:

devious indeed , but will server the purpose

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Brea Andriev-Kirkham on March 17th, 2011 at 11:21 am said:

ingenious if i had the slightest idea of how to do this i would

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Crystal Sriver on March 29th, 2011 at 5:25 am said:

bet you didn’t know this, but you can also hide your weed in there.

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Crystal Sriver on March 29th, 2011 at 5:25 am said:

deff a movie quote. nobody freak out.

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Joel Matthewman on April 1st, 2011 at 9:41 pm said:

anybody give reccomendations for how/what to make from? preferably from things available in UK?

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Natalie Kelsey on April 4th, 2011 at 4:12 pm said:

Very awesome idea!!!!

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StevenMoore on April 12th, 2011 at 1:53 pm said:

Man- I have like dozen of these spots available- it would of been interesting to do this in my childhood home and then like go back and visit with my kids and see what I could of put in there 30 years ago. Great Idea

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Grace Noyes on April 24th, 2011 at 12:33 am said:

What a great idea….. I would never have thought of something like this

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Amberlee Mucha on May 3rd, 2011 at 4:45 am said:

The cops however do actually think about people hiding things there though… FYI

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Frank M Solorio on May 10th, 2011 at 9:09 pm said:

thats cool

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Julie Timsak on May 11th, 2011 at 2:40 am said:

Hmmm, this is pretty stealth….

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WORM on May 17th, 2011 at 6:03 pm said:

SWEET!

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WORM on May 17th, 2011 at 6:03 pm said:

SWEET!

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Layne Mathiesen on May 21st, 2011 at 4:56 pm said:

heh heh, even better than the trick wall outlet I made in high school 20+ years ago,

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Layne Mathiesen on May 21st, 2011 at 4:56 pm said:

heh heh, even better than the trick wall outlet I made in high school 20+ years ago,

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Mariana on June 25th, 2011 at 5:02 pm said:

http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Mariana77

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Samantha Gangacharan on June 26th, 2011 at 1:07 am said:

it only work if you have a solid door. any ideas for a hollow door?

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- Sean Michael Ragan on July 4th, 2011 at 5:36 pm said:
  
  Thanks for your comment, but you’re mistaken. The door in the project is a hollow-core door. It would be a lot harder, actually, with a solid door because you’d have to have a large-diameter drill bit that was as long as the cigar tube, which would not be cheap. Most hollow core doors have a perimeter frame of solid material (wood or wood composite) that’s about 3.5″ wide.
  
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marxdarx on July 8th, 2011 at 12:06 am said:

Perhaps if you had the skill and the tools, you could make a hidden puzzle box style setup in that spot. All wood. wouldn’t be detectible easily..a quick look would reveal nothing unusual if done right.

Just a thought…might still not work.

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marxdarx on July 8th, 2011 at 12:06 am said:

Perhaps if you had the skill and the tools, you could make a hidden puzzle box style setup in that spot. All wood. wouldn’t be detectible easily..a quick look would reveal nothing unusual if done right.

Just a thought…might still not work.

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marxdarx on July 8th, 2011 at 12:06 am said:

Perhaps if you had the skill and the tools, you could make a hidden puzzle box style setup in that spot. All wood. wouldn’t be detectible easily..a quick look would reveal nothing unusual if done right.

Just a thought…might still not work.

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Factory Alliance on August 4th, 2011 at 8:00 pm said:

That’s such a clever idea, never thought of it.

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Anonymous on August 12th, 2011 at 2:56 am said:

well its not a secret now is it lol jk i really like this idea and might try it out soon

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Tobias Prell on August 13th, 2011 at 11:17 pm said:

How the hell did you get a romeo y julieta cigar cylinder? I thougt you don’t get cuban cigars in the US.

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Anonymous on September 7th, 2011 at 12:08 pm said:

I would just use it for the emergency $10 for when you really really need it… and the couch and the kitchen drawer are empty, and the poodle needs dinner and you need chocolate and it’s 11.30pm & $3.55 is too little to put on a card… and a good place to hide your stick with all that really really important (not) stuff on it. How about love letters? wound ever so tight – they couldn,t breathe so they would suffocate anyway….no just money and sticks. Drugs would be too obvious – and of course you would be paranoid wouldn’t you….?

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Anonymous on September 7th, 2011 at 12:08 pm said:

I would just use it for the emergency $10 for when you really really need it… and the couch and the kitchen drawer are empty, and the poodle needs dinner and you need chocolate and it’s 11.30pm & $3.55 is too little to put on a card… and a good place to hide your stick with all that really really important (not) stuff on it. How about love letters? wound ever so tight – they couldn,t breathe so they would suffocate anyway….no just money and sticks. Drugs would be too obvious – and of course you would be paranoid wouldn’t you….?

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Madison Roby on October 8th, 2011 at 5:45 pm said:

First of all, where do you get the container, and second of all, where do you get he door?

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Ruth Lopez on October 13th, 2011 at 5:41 am said:

what if there is a fire?

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damneardone on October 14th, 2011 at 12:44 am said:

Arrrggh… but you gotta remember to OPEN the door when trying to get at the stash… Ahh, F it, too much to remember, I’ll just put it under the couch, nobody’ll think to look there!

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Cody on March 24th, 2012 at 6:59 pm said:

This is not a new idea. Immigrant tenets at the turn of the 20th century frequently utilized this idea. In solid older doors you can occasionally find “wallet holes” where the door was carved out big enough to hide a wallet. Found a few in Chicago myself.

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- Sean Michael Ragan on May 1st, 2013 at 8:24 am said:
  
  Never intended to represent it as such. In fact, as I recall, I first read about in one of the old Loompanics books.
  
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Arman Erfanfar on April 23rd, 2013 at 7:10 pm said:

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kulundra on May 1st, 2013 at 6:08 am said:

Reblogged this on kulundra.

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