Burial urn - Ponderosa pine

Re: Burial urn - Ponderosa pine

Very nice! That super tight stopper bothers me though. A very tight fit along with seasonal wood movement might just crack the urn. 

Re: Burial urn - Ponderosa pine

Very nice, Joe.

Since you turned end-grain, I wouldn't be too concerned about seasonal movement as both the jar and the cap will move together.

With the dimensions you list, the piece is more than twice the usual size for 1-person cremains.  Wondering why so big?

Re: Burial urn - Replies

Dick, Mark,

Thanks for the comments.  You both ask excellent questions.  This is my first urn.  I know the 1 cubic inch per pound of person rule.  I was told that I should be good for 200 cubic inches.  My vessel is probably about 325 cubic inches give or take.  Why so big?

• Short make window.  Would not have time to redo it.
• Thick walls.  Not sure what the norm is, but I opted for 0.25" to 0.375" thickness.
• Seeing many Mike Mahoney hollow vessels all around volleyball to basketball size, I got that size in my head.
• My dad's urn was a rectangular box that was considerably larger.  I got that size in my head.
• Shopping on line for commercial urns gave cubic inches but not always physical dimensions.  
• The customer gave me maximum size constraints, so I went to those.

Needless to say - I learned a lot on this project.

The press fit lid was not really my first choice, but I did not want to experiment in a short time window.  I wanted a threaded joint, but need more practice.  I did buy the bronze insert from Niles Bottle Stoppers, but they have 1.5"D and 2.5"D.  I really needed 2"D.  I do know that Ponderosa pine will not move too much, so I'm not too worried about cracking.    Also, the urn is being buried, so I was less concerned about it sitting on a table for years and cracking.  Not the best answer, but its what I went with. 

Joe

Volume

Pie x R[squared) x Height

Taking you 9x11 for 1/2" walls by 9" interior height 4x4x3.14x9 gives you 452 cubic inches of volume.  That's big enough for a dual (husband/wife) urn.

Sealed with a cork.  Not buried, however.  Will be held until children pass and then re-cremated with them and scattered.

Re: Volume?

May be oddly appropriate, but your link goes into "thin air"

Re: Volume?

Link worked for me, interesting human remains disposal 

Re: Volume

The top two inches are lid and neck, so mine's more ball shaped.  Used the volume of a sphere = 4/3 x pi x radius cubed.  8.5"D (4.25"R)

There is a lot to be said for a premeasured bag of rice or sand squished into the approximate form so you have an eyeball on the needed size.

BTW - Mark, nice piece.

Works for me

Retry

Worked 2nd time

Re: Volume

Re: Volume

I try to shape a plastic bag filled with the appropriate amount of rice into the shape of a truncated cone.

One of the hardest things to do is estimate how much rice is needed for a given volume.  For instance 20 cubic inches for a 20 pound animal is how much rice?  Here is a web address that does the figuring for you to answer that question.

http://www.metric-conversions.org/volume/cubic-inches-to-us-ounces-table.htm.  

The table on this site reads that I need 11.1 ounces of rice in a regular liquid measuring cup for the volume I will need for the animal's cremains. So I put that much rice in a plastic bag and shape it into the general shape of a truncated cone and then position it on the piece of wood I wish to use to see if it will accommodate the volume I am intending to put inside it.

For those of you who are more mathematically inclined and wish to more accurately determine the volume of the hollow form I suggest you think of the interior shape as a truncated cone i.e. a cone with the pointed end cut off .  By determining the diameter/radii at the top and bottom and height of the hollow area inside the urn there is a formula that can be used to accurately calculate the volume. 

Volume= ⅓ π (r₁² + r₁r₂ + r₂²) H     

Or more simply just go to this link and plug in the height, radius of the major diameter, radius of the minor diameter and hit calculate to let their computer do the work for you.

http://keisan.casio.com/has10/SpecExec.cgi?id=system/2006/1223372110

Once this volume is known the trick with the rice can be used to visualize the internal volume needed for the cremains.

Re: Volume

They said there wouldn't be any math...