Need some design ideas for an urn

[Mark Norman]

My first commissioned piece.
A friend of mine asked if I would make a lidded box to be the final resting place for his beloved pets ashes. I would like some design ideas if anyone has any. He just asked today so I will ponder in the shop this evening when I get home from work and hold a few blocks of wood and wait for the inspiration to hit he. It usualy does, but I though I would ask you guys here and see if anyone has some input.



Mark she was my first Newf who was badly inbred...Was deaf at birth but boy did she have a nice Blockhead. Her name was Brandee's Midnight Oil... Brandee for short.... Boy do I miss her she was such a sweet heart...

I would like a bowl about 7" in diameter and about 4" deep.

I do appreciate this.


And wow what a haul on the walnut.. http://www.nastyz28.com/ubb/eek.gif


I got a bus to catch, see ya in an hour or so.
Mark

[Dick Sowa]

I have thought about the same thing as a way to sell some smaller segmented bowls. Some things I found...

Volume of an urn needs to be approximately 1 cubic inch per pound of body weight. So the size he is asking for should be plenty...unless it was really huge dog.

Volume is a whole lot easier to manage if you do a segmented urn. Also, and probably more importantly, segmented vessels are dimensionally stable, and less likely to split with changes in humidity and temp. Another advantage is that you can make the shape just about anything you want.

You will want to include a way to seal the lid. I have tried a few with threaded lids...which work really well. Or an alternative would be to make the lid tight...and after the ashes are placed, glue the lid on.

Do a web search for wooden cremation urns. There are plenty of sites selling them, and you can get some really good ideas about shape and details.

[Pete Jordan]

Hey Mark,

I love your lathe you are building!
I have this one from Mike Mahoney and it is excellent.

http://www.bowlmakerinc.com/videos.html

[Jeff Nicol]

Mark, I have made a few urns and I use what ever wood the person who want the urn requests. Most people take whatever advise I had to offer at the time and I gave them lots of dry wood to chose from. Most mediun to large dogs will fit in something that is 6"inside dia buy 5" tall. The way I did it was I put rice in the form to see how much it would hold and that gave me a great capacity size. Most are made like HF's and some are shorter and squat and others tall and thin. Here are some pics of ones I have made. The little one was for a lady that wanted to keep just a little bit of her Dad. The other one I still have and it may end up being for me some day! I have some more but I think I put them on a cd and can't find it right now. So the sky is the limit.

Jeff

[Bernie Weishapl]

+1 for Mike Mahoney's dvd.

[Mark Norman]

Thanks guys, I'm glad I asked. I was thinking 7" x 4" would be a bit small, if you know anything about Newfie's they are BIG dogs. I was also thinking the proportions would be beter taller than wide like you posted Jeff (GREAT work btw) and not squat as requested but as we all know the customer is always right.
I wish I could afford all the Mahoney's dvd's but alas, its not in the cards any time soon.

I'll suggest he glue the lid on once Brandee's remains are placed inside.

I will go ponder the pieces I have and see if anything comes to me.

[John Fricke]

Hey Mark,
Just a little FYI, this probably not the item to try out your colander idea on.

[Brian McInturff]

Mark,
Over on the AAW website forum there is a thread on urn sizes. There is a spreadsheet with the calculated sizes for different size humans and pets. It's under their Main Category forum.

[Mark Norman]

Yer probably right John...lol

I'll go look Brian, thanks for the resource!