urns

[Michael Lane]

Has anyone ever made a wooden urn for burial ashes ? I looked at some on the web & all they appeared to be is a plain square box that is sealed.

thanks in advance michael lane

[Jerry V]

I have been making urns for about 12 years now. About 80% of my sales is for remains of various pets. I work through local pet clinics and crematories to get my product out.

Jerry

[nailshooter41]

I haven't made one myself, but one of the guys in my woodturning club made one for his wife before she passed. His wife always admired his work and knew how important his woodturning was to him, so she asked him to turn her an urn for her ashes.

When he approached the funeral home for their advice, they gave him the state requirements for the urn. It had to be of a certain internal dimension, seal a certain way and so on. If the vessel didn't conform to the minimum requirements, it would have been illegal for he funeral home to use the urn. The funeral director was able to inspect the urn on behalf of the state before interring the ashes, so all went well.

I don't think there is a requirement for pet urns, but for human urns, you should check with the proper authorities before starting.

Robert

[Robatoy]

What a great way to use up my smaller pieces of solid surface materials...

[Robatoy]

I'm sorry, but I just have to:

Q: What's a Grecian urn? A: Usually minimum wage plus tips.

from the same children's book:

Q: How do you make a Venetian blind?

[Lee Michaels]

Is the world ready for Corian urns??

[Robatoy]

I don't see why not. The stuff can be hermetically sealed. Engraved. Fabricated in may shapes. Me, I'm going to be buried standing up. A Utility pole hole auger... slide me in, put on a garbage can lid (galvanized of course), and fill 'r back. I take up less room that way. I'd like to go the way Hunter S did, but it aint in the budget.

[Andy Dingley]

Or else just get the ashes in a cardboard box and transfer them later. I've made a few caskets now (not a turned one though) and I've yet to have one be the first container used.

The Corian idea sounds interesting. I know this stuff turns well, although you need adequate lathe torque and (AFAIK) more scrapers than usual. At present I'm setting up blanks (stacked glued rings) of solid-colour MDF to make wide shallow hollow vessels. These might work too. I'm planning to lacquer the first ones black, but the material ought to finish on its own just with sanding and wax.

Cubic inch per pound of bodyweight is one useful rule of thumb though.

[nailshooter41]

OWWWWWCH.

*Crash* of the cymbals *ba-dum-dum* of the foot base

HiYo!!!! courtesy of Ed McMahon.

A little Saturday levity never hurts.

Can't wait to try the Grecian joke on my very nerdy niece. It should elicit a groan satisfying to any uncle.

Robert

[nailshooter41]

should check with the proper authorities >>before starting.

I remember you are from the UK, and I certainly can't speak for any regulations or laws across the waves.

Certainly not to say it isn't done, but it is against federal and state law to improperly bury or inter a human body. The constainer (no matter the state of the cadaver - embalmed, cremated, frozen, dismembered, etc.) must meet state and federal requirements.

Apparently the requirements aren't actually that strict, and the main concern is the ability to seal the remains.

Robert

[Warren Weber]

Pluck his eyes out????

[else24]

My wife's family asked me to make one for her sister's ashes. They asked for something similar to these:

had the standard container for the ashes from the funeral home, so I built it to contain that. Note that the top is sealed and the bottom is screwed on. If you use the box just as a container for the simple plastic box that the ashes come in, you should be okay with state and federal regs.