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Abingdon, VA – Tree Cutting & Portable Sawmill

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Knowledge You Can Build On — Est. 1998

Compare cordless drills on the numbers that matter

Urns

Posts

Urns

#1

Urns

Skip Beardsley

I am going to make three urns for my sister, who is currently in Hospice care after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. I am honored to do this for her and her family. I have the ability and tools to do it but don't have any idea of the design element of such an object. I assume the ashes will be divided into three lots so that brings into question how large should each one be? Also would appreciate any ideas of wood sources. I have lots of green cherry, maple, cherry burls, ash, yellow birch and black locust but am sure I should be doing this project in dry wood.

Thanks for any ideas or sources you might have.

Skip

Re: Urns

#2

Examples

Mark Mandell - Gone Round In New Jersey

I did these for a veteran friend's family using big-leaf maple burl filled with epoxy and dyed and finished in acrylic lacquer.


When my uncle passed, his family wanted to split his cremains among the three survivors with the idea that as each, in turn, passed that their portion would be returned. This in walnut and cherry


was done so that the three boxes interlock and fit together.


The family liked the composition so much they decided to keep them as one piece.

If you're doing a three way split, you want to figure each to hold about 70 cubic inches of volume, roughly inside dimensions of 4" diameter by 6" tall for round and 4x4x5 for boxes.

Re: Urns

#3

Re: Urns

Dick Coers

Sorry you have this task, but you will be thinking about her all the time you are working. I really like to use PVC fittings for the threads. I have found some black fittings at Menards. Epoxy about 1/4" length of male threads on a tenon on the lid, same amount of female threads in the body.

Re: Urns

#4

Re: Urns *LINK*

Guy Bratt

Here are some design ideas.


https://www.artisticwoodurns.com/index

Re: Urns

#5

Re: Urns

Dale Gillaspy

A pretty good rule of thumb is 1 cubic inch per pound of body weight. I just had to deal with all this for my MIL. Some funeral homes will divide the ashes into multiple bags for you, so all you have to do is place a the bags inside their respective urns. Others only give you one bag, and dividing it is on you.

Dry wood is certainly a big plus in this instance, because you don't want it to move, but species and design are all your choice. they don't have to look like traditional urns if you don't want them to. My MIL loved wind chimes, so I turned 3 wind chimes for her 3 children with small cremains chambers in the tops of the wind chimes where the strings for the chimes pass through. I am also working on one right now in the shape of a butterfly. The turned body will hold some cremains. The sky is the limit, but I'm sure whatever you do will honor your sister.

Re: Urns

#6

Re: Urns

Skip Beardsley

Thanks to all for the responses. Each has helped on this journey.

As with all things creative, this is a deeply personal endeavor but I am very grateful for the added input. Having the honor of doing it has helped with the grief of the thought of the world without my sister being in it.

Skip