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Thread: Pope John Paul's wooden casket

  1. #1
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    Pope John Paul's wooden casket

    Did anyone else notice the nice through dovetails on the Pope's cypress casket? I thought some craftsman did an elegant job, worthy of the pontiff.

  2. #2
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    Might be easier on this forum to ask who didn't.

    I suspect that some generational family business has been doing this job for centuries.

    Wouldn't love to see "the building of the Pope's casket" on the History Channel?

    Wonder how much was done with handtools?
    ~Dan

  3. #3
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    When I saw some footage of the funeral on a local news magazine show the first thing I noticed, was the dovetails on the coffin, was that Cypress as you said?

  4. #4
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    coffin

    Do you think the boards were one piece,could't see any joins.

    They probably have a nice selection of timber in there shop.

  5. #5
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    from what the news said there are actually two wooden caskets, the inside one is cypress and the outside one is pine I think they say. I don't know why they do that, but theres gotta be some reason.

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Aaron Kline
    from what the news said there are actually two wooden caskets, the inside one is cypress and the outside one is pine I think they say. I don't know why they do that, but theres gotta be some reason.
    It actually goes into three Caskets and then into a vault. The reason they do that is to slow the decomposition of the body. At least that's what the article I read said.

    John
    Woodworking:
    "It's not just a hobby, it's an adventure."

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Aaron Kline
    from what the news said there are actually two wooden caskets, the inside one is cypress and the outside one is pine I think they say. I don't know why they do that, but theres gotta be some reason.
    I thought the outside looked like pine and on the one side there was clearly two boards together, or so it appeared to me, nice work though nevertheless.

  8. #8
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    The outside casket is oak according to news reports.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  9. #9
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    The outside casket is oak according to news reports.
    You may be right, but I know a lot of people who look at wood, and if it doesn't look like pine, its oak. "Hey where'd you get that nice chocolate brown colored oak from?"

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