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Turning an Urn

Douglas Ladendorf

Douglas Ladendorf

Joined
Jan 26, 2013
Messages
277
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28
Location
Pennington, New Jersey
My father passed away on the 20th at 93. As my sister, brother and I were discussing various things this past week I offered to turn an urn for his ashes. It will be buried and not on someone's mantle, but still I want to make a fitting tribute as best I can. Any information, tips, leads or suggestions are appreciated. I am just starting to research so still pretty green on the subject.

Thanks,
Doug
 
Doug,

sorry for your loss,
Making an urn is a nice touch.

You need a way to seal the lid.
You might query the funeral director about volume. I found this some time ago

175 lbs. person needs an urn with 160 cubic inches
200 lbs. person needs an urn with 180 cubic inches
250 lbs. person needs an urn with 230 cubic inches
Yo
 
Jim Record said:
You will need a sealed threaded top.
Click to expand...

This is not my experience. For my Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, and our dog, the ashes were sealed in plastic bags. No contact between the ashes and wood, no way for the ashes to spill out if the lid ever fell off. If the ashes are to be buried, the urn needs to fit into a "vault". For my Mother-in-law, finances were tight. We went to a cremation society, the low cost option in our community. Very helpful people, they had samples of all items on the shelf.
 
Thanks guys. I'm trying to visualize the volume needed. I think about a half gallon will do it. Hate to be short though. Good point about fitting in the vault. I will need to get info about that. I hear Mike Mahoney has a good video about turning urns so I will look for a used copy. Any recommendations about size of opening or pouring into a second bag within and sealing that?
 
Douglas Ladendorf said:
My father passed away on the 20th at 93. As my sister, brother and I were discussing various things this past week I offered to turn an urn for his ashes. It will be buried and not on someone's mantle, but still I want to make a fitting tribute as best I can. Any information, tips, leads or suggestions are appreciated. I am just starting to research so still pretty green on the subject.

Thanks,
Doug
Click to expand...

I am sorry to hear of your loss. My father-in-law passed away a few years ago and was cremated. He was on the small side (about 5 ft tall, and pretty thin due to illness). His remains fit into a small container, about the size of 3 Morton's salt containers. They were delivered in a sealed plastic bag; the texture was roughly between coarse sand and pea gravel. His children initially wanted to divide the remains, so I turned containers for lidded glass jars (my skills were beginner at the time; I now consider myself an advanced novice). The funeral home director divided the remains for the family members into the containers I had made.

What I've seen for funerary urns are typically lidded hollow forms. Since the remains come in a plastic bag, you may choose to leave the remains in the bag (or not--or the funeral home folks are typically very cooperative, and will perform any transfers you wish, if you are uncomfortable handling the remains). You could then place the bag in the vessel of your choice. It need not be a hollow form, and could be just a lidded vessel of proper volume, per Al's post. To estimate volume, you can use sand in a milk carton (231 cu. in. in 1 gallon), then, fill the vessel as you turn to see how close you are. To seal the lid, you can choose to thread, adhesive seal, or choose not to seal the lid, as you're talking about burying the urn.

A nice touch would be to carve into the vessel your father's name and the name of family members (for me, I'd use pyrography because my carving skill is pretty awful).

Again, my sympathies with your and your family.

Hy
 
Douglas Ladendorf said:
Thanks guys. I'm trying to visualize the volume needed. I think about a half gallon will do it. Hate to be short though. Good point about fitting in the vault. I will need to get info about that. I hear Mike Mahoney has a good video about turning urns so I will look for a used copy. Any recommendations about size of opening or pouring into a second bag within and sealing that?
Click to expand...

Most wood turnings are cylindrical or spherical.

The volume of a cylinder is. Radius x radius x height x pi
A tuned cylinder shape with a 6 3/4 inch diameter and 8 3/4 height with 3/8 wall thickness for the sides, bottom, and top
Would have an interior with 5 1/4 diameter (2 5/8 radius) and height Would have a volume of a bit over 173 cubic inches.

The volume of a sphere is. 4/3 x radius x radius x radius x pi
A turned sphere 8" diameter hollowed to a 1/4" wall thickness will have an interior space with a radius of 3 3/4
And a volume a bit over 220 cubic inches.

If you have an unusual shape you can calculate the volume for each vertical inch.
H will equal 1. Measure the diameter in the middle of the inch intervals at 1/2, 1 1/2 etc.
Radius is half of the inside diameter at that height interval
Pi x radius X radius
Sum these for each interval and you have had you lesson in calculus.

Often you know there is a sphere or a cylinder of a certain size inside the form plus a little more.

Al
 
I have a strong feeling the crematorium will "adjust" the volume of ashes to fit the container. Not sure they grind 100% of the bones. We spread the Father-in-laws ashes at sea, a very moving moment. The boat captain went to a site, and put the boat into a shallow circle. The ocean calmed from the boat circling, and each took a turn. I'll never forget it! Some bone peices remained, about the size of 1/2 a dime. You could always turn a few lidded boxes for each family member to retain a small amount if they choose. A good way to handle volume if you come up short. You can always use cat litter, or sand to check volume when you are done.
 
Douglas Ladendorf said:
Thanks guys. I'm trying to visualize the volume needed.
Click to expand...

Doug,
My sympathy for your loss. My dad passed away at 93 also.

I researched this question a few years ago and found some variability, but the 1 cubic inch per pound was by far the most commonly found. It worked for our use. If you don't think anyone will open the urn, to scatter the ashes for example, then a reasonably good fitting lid secured with epoxy should be fine. The threaded lid is sometimes made with PVC fittings, so you don't have to learn to make threads. One of the woodturning project suppliers also makes a brass threaded fixture set, but I can't remember who carries it.
 
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Thank you so much guys. I really appreciate the thoughts and information. Fortunately I don't have to rush so can take in your comments and maybe have some practice runs. I have a copy of Mike Mahoney's DVD on the way as well. I'll post here when I get going on it.

Doug
 
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