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This is not your usual woodworking request. My brother-in-law passed away on August 2nd and the family on my wife's side asked if I would make a box for his ashes. Blake died young at 68, taken two weeks after being diagnosed with cancer. A Vietnam Vet (Army medic) I can only wonder if exposure to Agent Orange was the source of his cancer. He wouldn't go to doctors or visit the VA, and had a mistrust of institutions in general, all legacies of Nam, but he served his country honorably at a difficult time. I hope I served him as well in a final resting place.

I chose Spruce that I had laying around in the shop and settled on 6.5 x 6.5 x 10 inches which created over 300 cubic inches, a size recommended by an undertaker friend. I used a 1/2" shank 45 deg lock miter bit on the sides and a floating panel in the base. In the second pic off to the left, you can see my prototype with the floating bottom. I was going to use a sliding lid and the sides were plain miters without the interlocking ledge. I didn't like it, made adjustments, and started over. The top is routed with an ogee edge and fitted with a base that is friction fit to the inside of the container. My wife wood-burned a chess figure and cross on the face to create a front to the box (chess was his favorite game) and we fitted a brass plaque on the lid. I finsihed the box or urn with several coats of poly. Here are a few shots:

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Very nice. A bit of creativity takes you a long ways in making the things you need.

I made a pair of them here a few years ago.

My dad died years ago and was cremated. He died here in Florida but wanted to be buried up north to be with my mother. They were going to send the ashes but I was going up for the memorial service. They handed me a cardboard box with his ashes. Inside was a plastic bag and a metal id plate.

I carried them north and handed them to a funeral director up there. His cremation costs were prepaid. However when I got a detailed receipt I noticed the cardboard box was $250 dollars.

So with that logic the urn you made has to be worth thousands!


Sorry for trying to interject a little humor into the story.

Thanks for the humor Ed. It is often called for when dealing with death and the rituals associated with it. Humor is derived from the word hummus, which we all know softens the soil, or the hard parts of life. Without humor life cannot grow.

I debated posting this thread. I noticed the great silence after it was up, and I wasn't surprised. I worked for 31 years as a military chaplain and have dealt with my share of death. I know it's uncomfortable, awkward, and creates a situation where we are not certain how to respond. Regardless, it's nice to have feedback.

I hear you on funeral costs - a $250 cardboard box is ridiculous. I once watched a cremation with the body in a $25,000 copper casket; what a waste of money, was all I could think. Sometimes I think insurance, as in health care, drives the insane prices.

I was most pleased with the way the 45 degree lock miter bit worked. I bought it several years ago and had never used it. I set my Grizzly woodshaper up to handle router bits and I was pleased with the outcome.

Once again, thanks for the humor and feedback.

This be 'speculation', but the $250 box was likely what Ed's dad was cremated in, not the container holding the 'cremains'.

Good attitude re humor. This planet would be hell without it!;)

[quote="JPG40504"]This be 'speculation', but the $250 box was likely what Ed's dad was cremated in, not the container holding the 'cremains'.

Good attitude re humor. This planet would be hell without it!]
Actually that was the price of the box for the ashes.

From what I remember they place the body inside the furnace all by itself. After the process is over the ashes are removed and sent through a pulverizer boxed and a metal id tag what was on the corpus is included. I know the receiving funeral home opened the box and checks the tag and placed it back in.

WmZiggy, Thanks for your service and also thinks for the care given to your BIL. The wood working is great, the motivation a real gift.

Hey there Ziggy! Very nice ashes box! Love the locked miters.

Thanks for giving this thread. And thanks for reminding us of the 300 cubic inches.

So far three family members have been cremated. So far only one cardboard container. I am seriously thinking of making cremation boxes for myself and Wife.

First, thanks for the kind comments. Second, never trust spell checkers. In my thoughts on humour I misspelled humus writing "hummus" that chick-pea paste (now there is a little humour). Just remember, all of the tyrants I can recall were devoid of a sense of fun-loving humour; Hitler was not a funny guy!

I always used to tell Army and Airmen that they should write their own obituary the way they like it. Why leave it to someone else? Most printed in the paper are name, date, and serial number. I used to tell them to focus on how you lived out your calling (vocatus) in life. So for woodworkers its seems very appropriate to make one's own urn. While I was making Blake's I thought I should make mine and my wife's, except the veterans cemetery here in North Dakota probably has all sorts of rules and regulations. I will have to check that out.

One final note on cremation: Most rules for funeral homes are governed by State law, so there may be exceptions. However, everywhere I've been you must be cremated in something and it can vary from a cardboard box or canvas sack to your casket. The bones don't burn and must be ground to a powder. Finally, I think you must be embalmed if you are not cremated within 12 hours, or a very short time.

I didn't mean to end on the topic of endings - woodworking is more fun, humorous if we don't cut a finger off. That 45 degree lock miter was easy to use and set-up with a couple of set-up passes. I would not want to use it on anything but a table mounted router, or in my case my shaper fitted for router bits, that has a fence and anti-kickback boards. I suppose it could be used in an upright hand-held router with fence, but that just didn't feel right to me and you know what they say...

Remember, cabinetmakers were also casketmakers necessary in life and death.

My father-in-law passed away last month and after his funeral was over I was asked to make two boxes (the other will be for my MIL) to serve as urns. The cremation society, upon my request, gave me (free) one of the cardboard boxes they use. I'd be surprised if anyone charges $250 for the cardboard box. The box was 9.75'' X 6.5" X 4" (all OD) for a total of 253.5 cu. in. His ashes fit easily in this box size. FWIW, one internet search I found gave a rule of thumb of 1 cu. in. per pound of body weight.