Gun safe custom interior

Arborist Forum

Help Support Arborist Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

headleyj

ArboristSite Guru
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
Messages
757
Reaction score
100
Location
Ellettsville (Bloomington), IN
Well i bought a used commercial safe...nothing but adjustable shelves inside.....with the intentions of making it a gun safe. I wanted something different, my own ide a. I spent hours at the fabric store ...shoulda seen looms on their faces when i walked in with double front jeans and logger boots. :) no joke. After hours of looking and test pieces, i landed on my own idea of grey marine vinyl, looks like pleather kinda, pad it and use the butts of ahotgun shells as buttons...and put lights in it. So after months of working on and off on it here's a progression of the safe that wouldnt end. Only have phone for internet cant figure out how to make pics show automatically when using phone...sorry. More pics to come.

215679d1325946625-temp-jpg

View attachment 215679

215680d1325946739-2011-12-18_10-06-29_748-jpg

View attachment 215680

215683d1325946898-2011-12-20_11-03-07_812-jpg

View attachment 215683

215684d1325946965-2011-12-20_11-03-43_920-jpg

View attachment 215684

215685d1325947036-2011-12-21_11-46-18_89-jpg

View attachment 215685
 
Last edited:
View attachment 215701
215701d1325950600-2012-01-02_15-53-28_629-jpg


215702d1325950646-2012-01-01_11-20-12_880-jpg

View attachment 215702

1st pic u can see the lights pretty well. I found wireless batt powered led light strips that turn on with a rocker style light switch. I fabbed up a mechanism on inside of safe door so that when the handle is turned to open door it activates switch and turns on lights :)

2nd pic is 50 cal bmg brass. Gonna slide those over the handles on door and epoxy them on

I'll try to get pics visible so u dont have to click on each one but lime i said kinda tough when only internet at home is a smartphone....so if anyone wants to do it for me id gladly issue some rep!!
 
Last edited:
Nice safe! If you don't mind me asking what was your cost on this project? I've considered something like this from time to time but never got around to actually building it;)

Overall though great job looks really nice and finished.

Take care!

Luke

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
 
The basic construction process was to take luan and cut to size. Tale padding and spray adhesive it to luan. Then roll out vinyl and rough cut. Stretch and use staple gun to attach to backside of luan. Then mark on vinyl where buttons go with ink pen ( mineral spirits will take ink off easily if u make a mistake).

Grinding the shells down was a pain. We shot clays to use the shells so they werent wasted :) cut plastic hulls off with tin snips...all 55 shells....i wnded up putting my grinder in the vise and holding shell butt in vise grips to grind shell down...wear safety glasses!!! Then used utility knife to deburr edges. Knock center section of shell butt out too...or it would sometimes fall out after grinding.

Went to a have-everything hardware store and got brass grommets that fit the shell perfectly along with brass wood scews (#4). Screwed shell and grommet into marked locations on the vinyl and into luan, but not through backside of it.

The barrel holder things are solid walnut that were harvested and planed from my dads land 25 yrs ago so that was pretty cool. I used a holesaw to first drill uniform holes lengthwise. Then i ripped it on tablesaw and whala 2 identical pieces. Used the dremel to knock sharp edges off where barrels rest 3 coats of clear poly later and they're done.

All in all it was a very rewarding project and pwefect for the mud-season we're experiencing here now. Im very happy with how it turned out and best of all its all my own idea/ creation.
 
Nice safe! If you don't mind me asking what was your cost on this project? I've considered something like this from time to time but never got around to actually building it;)

Overall though great job looks really nice and finished.

Take care!

Luke

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Cost for materials was only about 150....trick is to use coupons at fabric store. Saved 40-50% regularly that way. Now the safe cost is another story all together. It's an American Se urity AMVAULT and is TL-15 rated plus 2 hr fire rating.....that aint cheap but worth it for the peace of mw imo. Bought used and saved a ton that way
 
Very Impressive!. Dang fine work. The only problem I can see is all the empty slots. All mine are filled, and I still want a few more. Kinda like saws:msp_w00t:
 
Very Impressive!. Dang fine work. The only problem I can see is all the empty slots. All mine are filled, and I still want a few more. Kinda like saws:msp_w00t:

Im workin on that ;) didnt want to get a bunch without a place to put them....got my eye on 2 rifles.....prolly end of this month..... sshhhhh.....dont tell wifey. :)
 
Nice job. I built gun safes for a few years in my dads weld shop. I am designing another one for myself. I got a .50 cal smoke pole today NEF Huntsman...Bob
 
I think you did a great job , good use of your imagination. Is the safe fire rated.? I was given a safe similar in size but i had to turn it down because i couldn't get it in my house by myself it weighed around 1500lbs.
 
Last edited:
you got a heating strip in there to keep moisture away? Nice looking safe, the lighting is key, i'm always fumbling around in the top shelf.
 
No dehumidifier...ill have to use silicia gel. Elec.dehumidifier imo provides access for.fire and smoke

Looks good. Nice work. That'll get filled quick.

On the silica gel, just a heads up that it will saturate and fill its container with water. check often or a block of balsa wood works ok.
fwiw.
 
That is to cool man! Good job!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
3m makes a nice moisture strip that has a line to tell you when to replace it.
 
Back
Top