Burial urn ??

[Steve R Baker]

I am working on a segmented burial urn, using cherry scrap wood from a cabinet shop.
A few questions?
How thick does the sides need to be?
Is there any wood that is better than others to turn a butial urn out of?
I have searched and learned a lot on this forum, THANKS for all the Help.

[Jim Burr]

Hi Steve!
1/4" to 3/8" for walls. There is a formula out there somewhwere...I think I got it off Mike Mahoneys Urn DVD to compute cubic inches of ash. Make sure it's big enough!
Any wood is fine. I know walnut is used quite a bit for urns. Good luck!

[Jeff Belany]

My understanding is about 1 cubic inch per pound of the person cremated. But, we make boxes of 200 cubic inches and that works for the majority of people. Some places offer small, med. large but much easier to just stock one size. Wood choice is easy, just about anything works, we use Maple, Beech, Walnut, Ash. Try to give the customer a choice.

Jeff in northern Wisconsin

[Dave Carey]

Mike Mahoney's DVD on hollow forms and urns is well worth a look. Covers shape, size and threaded insert for the top finial. He does use the 1 lb = 1 cubic inch formula but errs on having the urn a little too big rather than the face the consequences of the other possibility!

[Steve R Baker]

I had already used the formula and figured about 1 gal. vol. for a 200 lb person. Does that sound about right? But don't want the side to thin, if it gets droped.