# Does any one here make final resting boxes?



## simplypine (Feb 11, 2009)

I am new to this forum and I have spent some time surfing around. I was curious if anyone here has made a people box. I know the death care industry calls them caskets and we used to call them coffins. I am much more pragmatic about the whole issue and refer them as people boxes, final resting boxes or just plain box.

I thought the idea of building your own box makes sense but most people have never tried the idea. I have always wanted to provide people with choices, since the death care industry really holds a monopoly on the merchendise. I am curious why more people don't venture down this path.

I came up with a few ideas, please post more.
1. We live in a death denying society and people don't want to talk about it.
2. If you are a serious woodworker it would break your heart to spend countless hours on a project just to plant it in the ground or burn it up.


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## sbryan55 (Dec 8, 2007)

Mark DeCou has posted one of his caskets here. As usual Mark does a pretty good job of providing background on the build.


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## hObOmOnk (Feb 6, 2007)

Eastern Red Cedar is the wood of choice around this part of Kentucky for burial boxes - human and animal.
My beloved Beagles go down in cedar when their time comes, as will I.

We have some fine Amish artisans in our area that make great boxes of all kinds.

"The box in question was, as I say, oblong. It was about six feet in length by two and a half in breadth; I observed it attentively, and like to be precise. Now this shape was PECULIAR; and no sooner had I seen it, than I took credit to myself for the accuracy of my guessing. "

Edgar Allen Poe, The Oblong Box


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## kiwi1969 (Dec 22, 2008)

I remember when I buried my dad I found out that there was an option for a coffin made from MDF! My neighbor said if we put him in one of those he would have turned in it! It may break your heart to put all that work in the ground, but we should all go out in style, right? Maybe you need the right mindset to build them, I remember a spanish friend who built them, a devout catholic and more than a little superstitious, in the end he quit because he couldn,t handle making the ones for children. I think it,s a subject to be explored not avoided but will be interested in others opinions on this subject. Do you approach it as just a box for a purpose? or is there an emotion behind each build that you as the builder need to deal with on each project.


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## roman (Sep 28, 2007)

I used to make hundreds of them. Not the fancy kind but good old "cheap as they come". Particle board knock down models (KD) kinda like Ikea style. The would show the body in a fancy one then transfer the body to the KD for cremation.

The only guy I know who made his own climbed into it to test the "fit" and promptly died…........been nervous about making my own since!!!


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## storm50 (Jan 7, 2008)

This was just on the news here about a guy who is making more affordable caskets than the ordinary ones. http://www.wday.com/tv/?page=video&vid=29_simplepinebox


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## Bureaucrat (May 26, 2008)

I like the idea of building a KD for myself. But with my shop where will I store it. I suppose I could hang it from the ceiling. My son has promised to leave a little bit of my ashes in all the places I said I wanted to go to but never made it; so I guess I won't need a fancy crematory box.


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## North40 (Oct 17, 2007)

Rockler offers plans and hardware for building caskets.


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## woodyoda (Dec 7, 2008)

Personally, I'd rather be buried at sea….no box needed, doesn't cost much, your recycled quick.
But I did see an interesting show on how they make oblong boxes in Europe out of Almond hulls and resin.
injection molded, cheap….painted…biodegradable…...interesting idea…....yoda.


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## JimmyC (Jan 31, 2009)

When my Dad, who was a woodworker, passed and they showed us the caskets to pick from I knew that I couldn't bury him in something not fitting to how he lived. We had a small inheritance and decided to put part of it towards a beautiful cherry box, even though it was the most expensive it was also the most fitting.

Who says that you can't take it with you ?


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## Hansondvm (Dec 18, 2007)

For DaveR 
As a small animal veterinarian I have had some hunters use this company for their hunting dogs:
http://www.thedepartingshot.com/products/index.aspx
Not sure if they apply it to humans lol.


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## simplypine (Feb 11, 2009)

I had been considering making boxes for over 5 years. I had started to gather materials and air dry some lumber when my grandmother died. My mom asked me to build the box. After I had done most of the rough box work I got really stressed out. That is when I realized that it wasn't my project to finish. In the end most of her 6 children, 70 grandchildren and many great grandchildren had a hand in finishing the box. The entire process is in my grandmothers blog with some pictures if anyone is interested. Fron this point forward I knew that people deserved a choice which is why I started my part time business. My full time job is a hospital social worker so I am very familiar with the concept of death.

http://grandmathiessenmemory.blogspot.com/


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## simplypine (Feb 11, 2009)

I enjoyed reading your responses. Thanks for the input. It saved me hours from searching through the archives.


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## TruckGuy (Jan 26, 2007)

Last year I made a urn (box) for my father-in-laws ashes. 
It was the least I could do for a god man and great father.


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## GFYS (Nov 23, 2008)

I'm gonna make my own ash can. Wait till they open the lid to put me in it, hehehehehe.


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## simplypine (Feb 11, 2009)

Just make sure the ash hole is big enough. (I think I can say that as long as it is in context) Most people make their people boxes too big and their creamation containers too small (I think due to the thickness of the wood)


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

What capacity does a cremation container need?


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## GFYS (Nov 23, 2008)

1 cubic inch/10 pounds body mass if I recall correctly.


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## cmaeda (Sep 1, 2008)

I told my wife to just put me in a cardboard box, bury me in the backyard and don't sell the house.
I guess nobody would buy the house anyway if they knew.


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## firecaster (Jan 15, 2009)

I read in the paper a while back about a new "green" cemetary south of Atlanta. You can be buried in a cheap pine box or a cardboard one. As long as it will rot away. No vaults and no embalming. Your family can plant a tree for remembrance. Might be a market for the kind of casket you saw in old westerns.

I want it to be cold and rainy the day of my funeral. That way, they may not miss me but they will be miserable.


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## Karson (May 9, 2006)

I was going to point you to Mark DeCou's casket. But, someone else got there before me. Mark has said that the funeral parlor asked him to make them for sale, but he didn't want to get into that business.


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## manilaboy (Aug 17, 2007)

Hey simply pine,

Looks like you have a nice business model. You work in a hospital full time. Make caskets on the side. If people want to live they see you. If they die, they'd still be looking for you. Just kidding!

Rico


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## groovemonster (Feb 21, 2009)

what a great topic!
i have some personal experience in this catagory.
in april 2006 my dad was diagnosed terminal with pancreatic cancer. he died in june 2006. the time in between i spent building his casket. i literally got it finnished 2 hours after his death, and delivered it to the funeral home. 48 hours later he was honored with a 21 gun salute and lowered into the ground as the bugler played. the casket i made hardly saw the light of day before it was entombed. but the pure joy it brought to my soul knowing that i could give my dad the very best gift i knew how was totally life changing! 
as i made it i was totally focused on accurate joinery, design and such…absorbed in to the task at hand like we all are when we build something. only twice did i realize what i was actually making. once when i laid inside the rough, unadorned box, to see if i "fit." looking at the shop ceiling from within brought to mind the permanence and the weight of the moment. and while i rubbed in the last coat of finnish and signed my name to the underside of the lid "built with love, honor, and pride, for my dad. love ya pops, JEF" at that moment it all came out. 
i would do it again if i could, in fact my mom wants me to make her urn…i should do that BEFORE she's on her death bed! i will make mine, unless i am taken before i can do it. 
anyone who has the oppurtunity to do this should, if they can. you will be healed and changed through the process. 
as a business, well thats a whole different story! there is definately a market for it. its just a matter of breaking into that market, like any other woodworking endeavor. i guess the big difference may be their is a good value placed on them so it might be something you could actually make a profit on…maybe!
good luck to you
JEF


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## simplypine (Feb 11, 2009)

Thanks for the personal story Groovemonster.

I am looking to set up a display for my boxes (featured as furniture) in the local home show.

We will see what kind of interest it generates.


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## simplypine (Feb 11, 2009)

Hello firecaster,
the green funeral movement is huge in the UK, over 200 green cemetaries. No embalming, no metal caskets, and in some sites no headstones. Some plant a tree, some coordinates are GP's and others are marked with a local stone. Check out the business of death from good magazine on utube for a short video on the funeral industry. It kind of makes you think.


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