Here's a cryptex, my first, inspired by the book "The DaVinci Code" and an article titled "Craft a Cryptex" in the April 2010 issue of American Wooodturner by John Giem. It was made for a Russian immigrant friend and co-worker thus I made it in the image of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow shown in the April, 2011 issue of Woodturning Design. It is 7 1/2" tall and 2 1/2" wide and composed of nine turned parts and five cut off nails used as locking pins. The book says that Leonardo DaVinci invented the cryptex but that seems to be in doubt. Supposedly, a secret messsage would be rolled around a thin glass vial and placed in the center tube. If the cryptex was broken or forced open the vial would shatter and the liquid in it would destroy the writing. The code to open the cryptex is always stated as a riddle and this one is as follows:

She came so far from Krosnodar
so far in many ways
but if you turn her back a bit
you'll solve this wooden maze

The code is my friend's name backwards and she is in a photo below. (Those with sharp eyes will notice two pictures on my office wall behind her of the only famous person I've ever known from each end of his career. I took the one on the top as a young kid.) Being a very un-handy guy with few tools, this project was an enormous challenge that I'm glad I tried. Your critique appreciated.

Cryptex1.jpgCryptex2.jpgCryptex & Raya.jpg