Cremation Urn Request

[Marty Tippin]

So I shared the photo of my first hollow form (the same one I posted here a few days ago) on Facebook the other day and a long-time friend asked if I could make an urn for his mother's ashes. I'd really like to honor his request, but having only slightly more than zero experience in hollow forms, I'm a bit reluctant to bite off a real "commission" like this, especially given its intended use. So far, I've only told him that I'd look into it and see if I could come up with something that he might like and if he does, he can pay me whatever he thinks it's worth.

I've done a little research and think I have some general parameters to work within -- volume should be roughly 1 cubic inch per pound of body weight at death, and use a PVC threaded lid. My rough plan is to use some large silver maple logs I have on hand, rough turn / hollow to maybe 3/4" thick and then dry before final turning. I will also turn and hollow a couple of practice pieces before I set out on the "real" thing.

For those of you with experience in this arena, what else would you advise? Am I biting off more than I can chew?

[Dwight Rutherford]

Don't use PVC (white) threaded fittings, they have pipe threads that will bind. Use ABS ( black ) fittings they will screw together so you can get your urn top to fit properly.

[Lloyd Butler]

I think the easier scale is 1 cup of ashes is equivalent to about 14 pounds of body weight.

Then you can test fill the urn with dry rice and see how much it will hold.

[Doug Herzberg]

Marty, I've done exactly one urn, so I'm not much more experienced than you. Plumbing fittings are tapered so that they seal as you tighten down. That's why they bind. One fitting, called a trap adapter, uses a nylon beveled washer to achieve the seal, so I think the threads are straight. I bought several and experimented. I think I used a plug (tapered) and the threaded ring from a trap adapter (straight). I used ABS because I thought the black would look better. I also looked at brass fittings. A 3/4 brass hose cap and matching brass fitting with male hose thread might look nice. You could turn away the extra brass. The hole might be a little small though. I learned, thanks to John Keaton, to cut key ways in the plastic for the epoxy to harden into. I cut a 1/8" cove and several vertical slots. I'm told epoxy and ABS or PVC don't like each other that much. Epoxy makes a mess on the plastic and the acetone I used to clean off excess epoxy didn't help with the appearance of the plastic, so be neat and careful.

I would use 1 cubic inch per pound of body weight for the deceased's highest lifetime body weight. In my case, there was a significant weight loss due to dehydration in the last few weeks. I think I needed about 150 cubic inches for a person who weighed under 100 pounds at death. Since you already have the ashes, you can measure the box and maybe peek inside to see how much space the ashes are occupying.

If you haven't turned any boxes, you might want to do some while you're waiting for your blank to dry. It will be good practice for fitting the pieces together.

I think it's a great project, especially if you have the time to do it over if it doesn't work out the first time. Good luck. I'm sure your friend will appreciate it.

[Thom Sturgill]

I have done two urns so far and re-purposed a third. I used normal pvc pipe fittings for the two purpose turned pieces. You only need one full turn of threading, so PVC is fine if the section is near the end. If too far from the end it will bind due to the taper.

Doug has it right on other details. The cremains are bone material, both burned and ground. All soft tissue is gone without ashes, so the volume is based on bone mass, which in turn relates to heaviest living weight not weight at death. In addition, there may be a small amount of ashes from the container (often laminated cardboard) used to contain the body while placing it in the oven.