Want to try a funeral urn

[Pat Patterson]

My wife has decided she wants to be cremated, hopefully not any time soon! I have no idea on volume. What size blank would you all suggest?

Thanks,

Pat

 

[John Bolte]

Pat, the Cremation Association of North America says the standard capacity of a single adult urn should be 200 cubic inches. A good general rule of thumb is 1cubic inch per pound of body weight. To get close to 200 cubic inches takes a pretty big blank, I just turned one from an 7x7x10 blank drying for the last 8 years. If the plan is to scatter some/all of the ashes, size requirement obviously goes down.

Hope that helps!

 

[William Rogers]

The “rule of thumb” is one cubic inch for every pound. Good luck getting her to tell you her weight! You can kind of estimate the size based on that.

 

[Dean Center]

Getting dry wood of the necessary size is a major challenge. 7-8"X7-8" spindle blanks would take 6-8 years to dry and have a high rate of cracking before getting there. Somebody who makes and sells urns should chime in here and let us amateurs who may do 3-4 in a lifetime know how they get suitable blanks.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

Getting dry wood of the necessary size is a major challenge. 7-8"X7-8" spindle blanks would take 6-8 years to dry and have a high rate of cracking before getting there. Somebody who makes and sells urns should chime in here and let us amateurs who may do 3-4 in a lifetime know how they get suitable blanks.

Urns are just like bowls you start with a green piece of wood and it can even be the full round of a tree as long as the pith is solid and the base is relatively small. The important part of rough turning is to have uniform wall thickness all the way to the bottom.
This is an example of an urn turned from the full round of a juniper (commonly referred to as red cedar or aromatic cedar) with the pith in the base. The rough turned piece was coated with anckor seal on the end grain areas, then weighed regularly until no change in weight is detected then finish turned.
The best way that I have had the most success with is to start with a fresh green piece and if you do get a large piece of wood that supposedly is dry it probably is not dry throughout no mater how many years it has been "DRYING".
So check in with tree trimmers or go out in the woods and borrow some (with the land owners permission).

 

[Jeff Jackson]

Getting dry wood of the necessary size is a major challenge. 7-8"X7-8" spindle blanks would take 6-8 years to dry and have a high rate of cracking before getting there. Somebody who makes and sells urns should chime in here and let us amateurs who may do 3-4 in a lifetime know how they get suitable blanks.

Like a bowl, rough turn it and let it dry like a bowl. Even if the wood is "dry" it should still be rough turned and allowed to stabilize because of the stress in the wood escaping after hollowing.

 

[Doug Freeman]

Volume as stated above. I have found various on line apps that can estimate volumes of irregular shaped “cylinders” using ID measurements to help determine blank sizes. Usually start with an entire log section.

I typically 2 turn urns starting with wet blanks, and use the 10% dia rule for wall thickness for roughing. Most are end grain/spindle orientation, have done smaller pet urns in x- grain. I use kraft paper or bags to dry, weighing to know when its dry. Wetter wood is better.

I find it best to center the pith on the bottom, and drill it out with 3/4”-1” bit, to alleviate cracking. It is plugged with a dowel in the finished piece. The top pith can be a bit off center as long as the top opening removes a 1/2” or so from pith center. You need to evaluate what putting the pith off center does to the grain pattern.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

I find it best to center the pith on the bottom, and drill it out with 3/4”-1” bit, to alleviate cracking. It is plugged with a dowel in the finished piece. The top pith can be a bit off center as long as the top opening removes a 1/2” or so from pith center. You need to evaluate what putting the pith off center does to the grain pattern.

I have made hundreds of urns with the pith and seldom had a need to drill out the pith, but if I were to remove the pith I would make a tapered hole with a matching tapered plug. The tapered plug will go into the hole without scraping the glue off but rather compressing the glue similar to clamping two boards together.
The off center pith for me is not a problem and it is usually a result of centering the mount based on the outside of the log. The grain pattern will never be concentric with the annual rings and as far as grain pattern goes that just adds character.
This walnut urn is an example of the pith in the outside surface although it was not turned from the full round.

 

[Richard Coers]

I find blocks of figured soft maple quite easy to find in my area. Arborists have no takers for soft maple and are glad to get rid of any of it. This was my Mom's urn. 6.5" at the major die., 3" dia at base, and 10.5" at the bottom of the lid. I'm guessing she was around 150 pounds at death and her ashes were about 3" from the top. I made 3 when I made them, so wife and I are ready. I made it way before Mom passed because I get pretty emotional turning these, even for strangers. It's an honor to make these.

 

[Pat Patterson]

Thanks for all your advice. I think I will put a toe in the water by first trying to make a mini version.

Pat

 

[Gerald Lawrence]

Something I think I heard from Mike Mahoney is that 180 pound is the basic for an adult. The rest is burned as all that fat poundage does not apply to calculation of weight. Someone correct me if I misconcieved this.

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

Thanks for all your advice. I think I will put a toe in the water by first trying to make a mini version.

Pat

The mini version is known as a Keepsake Urn and they are used to spread the ashes of a loved one amongst the offspring or they are good as pet urns.

 

[egsiegel]

when I saw your headline, Want to try a funeral urn, I thought you were looking for volunteers.

 

[Russ Braun]

The urn I made for my Father had enough room in it for my Mother! The last time I checked, no one is checking if all the ashes make it inside or not; certainly not the departed!!

 

[Richard Coers]

The urn I made for my Father had enough room in it for my Mother! The last time I checked, no one is checking if all the ashes make it inside or not; certainly not the departed!!

We dropped my Father-in-laws ashes in the ocean off a boat. All of us poured out some ashes and said our final good-byes, but it was a little unnerving to see pieces of bone chips in the ash. It never occurred to me that they have to grind up the bones.