Making a burial urn/box

[Sawdust=manglitter]

Unfortunately my Gran passed away yesterday. But anyway, I’ve offered to make the urn/box for when we bury her ashes.

Has anyone made one of these for burying before? If so, what’s the done thing, should the box be ‘finished’ robustly for longevity of being in contact with soil etc?

What sort of dimensions should the box be?

Is there usually a container within the box that houses the ashes, from something like stainless steel that’s sealed?

Should the lid be nailed/fixed once the ashes are within (rather than hinges/clasp etc)?

Thanks for any advice

 

[AJB Temple]

My father's ashes were buried in a designated nature conservation cemetery. They use nicely decorated cardboard boxes. The burial is shallow. Maybe a foot or so.

 

[AndyT]

There's this nice one just been posted in the projects section:

bill-s-casket-t116464.html

 

[sunnybob]

Sorry for your loss.
Dont know if youve had previous experience with cremated remains, but when my wifes mother died we were quite taken aback by the amount. In the end we scattered them at her favourite holiday spot on the cliffs.
Unless youre only going to make a box for part of them, make enquiries about what size you would need.

 

[Jamied]

Unfortunately I've made a couple of boxes in the last twelve month, also a coffin.
The crematorium will supply the ashes in a nicely presented cardboard box, if you ring them they will provide sizes of there box which you can use to ensure there box slides nicely into yours. The ashes box can be made in any material, it's only coffins going through the cremation process that have stricter guidelines.
The lids on both I just glued on once the ashes were placed inside.

 

[Doug B]

Condolences on the loss of your Gran.

This is the last one I made for a friend,

I waited until I had the cardboard box the ashes were in then made the casket to suit, the top & bottom were held in rebates & the side glued in place once the ashes were inside.

It had a simple wax finish as it was to be buried.

 

[Sawdust=manglitter]

Thanks all for the suggestions. Will be speaking to the crematorium during the next few days for the size of their cardboard box and go from there. The funeral wont be for another four weeks (to make sure everyone will be available!) so I've got time to do it right. Thanks again

 

[decas]

I made the casket for Bill that I recently posted in the Projects section. I tried to design and make something that I felt had a relevance to the person. The family seem to have appreciated that and several have said they approve. So if you can make something that has that connection with your Gran it will be that much more special. I think it also helps overcome some of the formality and makes things a bit more human.
Your casket may need to be a bit bigger than mine (9x9x7’’) as we will only be burying half of Bill’s ashes. The other half will go in with mother in law when she goes. I used no finish on the oak so it will rot easily. The base of the box is a piece of unfinished 3mm ply let into a rebate. The sides are put together with 4mm dominoes. They are quick and easy for this sort of thing. The pieces for the sides started to move after I resawed them through and the dominoes pulled them back to shape nicely. The ashes will probably go into the box in a natural fibre fabric bag which one of the daughters might make. I will tack the lid on with some plain steel tacks.
Hope this helps.
Dave

 

[Lazurus]

Sorry for your loss.
Dont know if youve had previous experience with cremated remains, but when my wifes mother died we were quite taken aback by the amount. In the end we scattered them at her favourite holiday spot on the cliffs.
Unless youre only going to make a box for part of them, make enquiries about what size you would need.

When I collected my late Father following cremation I was very surprised how big and heavy the box (cardboard) was. As said above do check the size required as some people do not like the thought of the dear departed being divided up.