Cremation Urn - Finally Finished

[Marty Tippin]

Seems like it's taken forever, but I've finally finished the cremation urn I started a few months ago and asked lots of questions about on SMC. This urn was a request from a high school friend, for his mother's ashes. I wasn't really sure I was up to the task of making something this "important" but I think it went pretty well overall.

This piece is from a green Silver Maple log, turned and hollowed to about 1/4" wall thickness, then dried for about 5-6 weeks, sanded and finished with lots of Danish Oil. Beall buff was used to bring out a little bit of shine. The lid is hard maple; I wanted to use wood from the same tree as the urn but gave up after 3 attempts to dry a rough-turned shape - they all split and I unfortunately didn't have time to wait for bigger pieces to dry on their own. I made a black PVC threaded insert in the top and matching PVC male threaded section on the lid for sealing.

Dimensions are ~14.5" tall with the lid, 6" at the widest point and 4" at the base.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it came out, though the grain orientation and overall character of the wood is somewhat less appealing than I had hoped for. As a learning vehicle, it was incredibly valuable - this is, essentially, the first, large hollow piece I ever tried to turn from start to finish and I'm pretty sure the next one will go a lot smoother.

(And I'm still "developing" my photography skills - I realize the color balance isn't quite right, but I don't have Photoshop installed at the moment to correct it...)

Comment and critique is welcome.

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[Roger Chandler]

Nice work, Marty. This looks good and has a good finish on it. As far as form is concerned, I would like to have seen you have a little smaller base at the bottom, but what you have here is good for sure! Very important piece, and you should be proud of it!

[Marty Tippin]

As far as form is concerned, I would like to have seen you have a little smaller base at the bottom

Well there's a story behind that - you can see that the foot it sits on is a bit smaller; that was originally supposed to be the diameter of the base but I either got sidetracked or confused and stopped turning before I got that far. The foot is about 3.5" or so, which I think would have made the shape a bit better overall.

Was just contacted by a Facebook friend who happens to own a funeral home and he wants me to make some he can offer for sale. I've turned him down for the moment, as it was difficult to find a log to make this piece out of and I don't have access to any more wood in the near future. Not really sure that's the kind of business I want anyway, even though it fills a worthy need...

[Thom Sturgill]

A little smaller would look better artistically, but you do not want a creamtion urn to look (or be) tippy. Good job Marty.

[Dale Gillaspy]

Overall, I agree with the above, but it is a small nitpick. I think you did a nice job. It is the top that bothers me. I think the cap/finial looks very heavy and bulky compared to the rest of the piece. I might have made that bead at the bottom a lot smaller. Again, it is a small nitpick. Great job.

[Marty Tippin]

It is the top that bothers me. I think the cap/finial looks very heavy and bulky compared to the rest of the piece. I might have made that bead at the bottom a lot smaller.

Yeah, I wasn't totally happy with the lid either, but had some constraints to work within - primarily, the PVC threaded insert in the top of the urn forces a certain minimum diameter for the lid. Additionally, because I didn't anticipate the amount of movement I would get as the urn dried, I didn't leave enough flat area around the threaded insert to make a good mating surface for the lid. So the undercut at the bottom of the lid was to try to give some visual separation and minimize the visibility of the small gap on the one side where the movement was most pronounced.

I think I would have preferred for the bottom bead on the lid to have a crisp edge that mated right to the top of the urn - then it could have been a lot thinner vertically and would have taken on a more "normal" finial look.

Thanks all for the comments - keep them coming! I know there's lots more to learn about this process, so every suggestion is valuable.

[robert baccus]

You are right--people like a steady bottom on urns. Also the threaded thing is overkill probably. Most funeral homes want a top that will glue on easily.

[Mike Null]

I love the shape and the finish--it's beautiful. I would have probably used a different lid style but this is well beyond my talent level.

[roger oldre]

Comment: That's a beautiful piece!
Critique: Simple, elegant, functional, its a beautiful piece!
I think it looks great!