Another Urn

glenn bradley

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Lost my wife's oldest brother to COVID a few days ago. Not really what I wanted for a first project but the shop is functional so we offered. Its been a couple of years so I did a mock up in poplar. This let me shake some of the cobwebs loose as well as get a go-ahead on the basic design.

Urn-Mike (1).jpg . Urn-Mike (2).jpg

With that out of the way I got to go through some material for the first time in too long. Chose some sapele and some birds-eye maple.

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Those who have an i-box are familiar with the rooster tail of spoil that can get ejected out of the rear. The mock up left a snow drift of spoil behind the saw despite dust collection. I decided to do a field mod on the i-box.

Locate one post piece from an old monitor stand (they came with multiple post pieces that stacked for different heights). Bore a matching hole of an appropriate depth.

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Attach shop vac.

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Much less spoil on the floor after the same operations with the sapele.

Urn-Mike (6).jpg . Urn-Mike (7).jpg

cont'd ...
 
. . . cont'd

I normally cut the dados for the top and or bottoms of such things by dry fitting the carcass and running it around a bit like this on the router table.

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I don't want to put the finger joints together and take them apart a lot so I will use this.
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Since the sides are all the same width the same setup can be used for through and stopped dados.
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I mill the profiles on the blank for the top.
Urn-Mike (11).jpg . Urn-Mike (12).jpg
I failed to use the push block on the first cut. Although I thought I had good control of the material the depth was a little irregular on that cut. Shoulder plane to the rescue.
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Reminder to self . . . consistent methods yield consistent results. At any rate, three sides are in the clamps.
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More tomorrow.
 
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We just got my wife’s grandmothers ashes back this past week. Her grandfather mentioned getting an urn, but he wants one big enough for the two of them. I’ve been thinking I may use some of the barn wood to make one for them, so will be following this one closely. :lurk:
 
First, sorry for your loss.

I like your I-Box mods. I recognize the blue adapter (Rockler) but not that woven(?) black hose. Looks super flexible. Do you find those blue adapters useful? From where does the black hose come?
 
First, sorry for your loss.

I like your I-Box mods. I recognize the blue adapter (Rockler) but not that woven(?) black hose. Looks super flexible. Do you find those blue adapters useful? From where does the black hose come?
A set of four was on sale. I find I use a couple of them a lot and the others are handy for those odd times. Certainlu better than duct tape or a long rigid set of adapter sections to get from tool to hose. The black stuff is a wire looming product . . . here it is. It goes over your existing hose so size it properly. It keeps the ribs in the hose from snagging on the edge of the bench or other things at that critical moment when it will do the most damage. It also wears like iron so far.

Here's a look at the floating top joinery profile.
Urn-Mike (15).jpg
The isdes will taper top and bottom but not as much as in the prototype. I plan to leave a reveal or 'land' at the top of the sides of about 1/16" defining the top. There was some discussion of a seamless blending of the sides to the top. I tried to explain how a floating top and that idea may not mesh well. ;-)
 
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A set of four was on sale. I find I use a couple of them a lot and the others are handy for those odd times. Certainlu better than duct tape or a long rigid set of adapter sections to get from tool to hose. The black stuff is a wire looming product . . . here it is. It goes over your existing hose so size it properly. It keeps the ribs in the hose from snagging on the edge of the bench or other things at that critical moment when it will do the most damage. It also wears like iron so far.
Interesting - Thanks.
 
Just as some fodder for finishing discussions . . . Here's a shot of the top after the first flood of shellac. There are a lot of ways to make figure pop and I use a lot of them. When I want to keep things light but still get some eye candy (like birds-eye and tiger maple) I do a flood-like application of a 1lb cut of shellac. The thinner mix carries the shellac deep into the softer woods and I wipe the excess off quickly. This is after that first step.
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I then just use what ever the top coat will be for the main project. If you add more coats of shellac, the contrast gets weak as the base coat takes on a more amber tone. Here's another example from a past project.
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Not quite as in-your-face as some dye techniques but definitely there.
 
The woodworking club "www.ncwoodworker.net" that I belong to makes urns for Veterans and keeps a supply of them at each of the National Cemeteries in NC. We will also send one to any Veteran or their family in our area who request one. These are made from hardwood donated by several saw mills. They were sized just slightly larger than the crematory cardboard or plastic box that the crematory uses. The boxes themselves are lock mitered at the corners and the top is attached using one pocket screw in the center of each side from within. The bottoms are attached via counterbored screw holes in the bottom, also one screw into the center of each side, but with one screw off center to keep the bottom's orientation correct. A 2" diameter hole is also bored in the center of the face side as well as in the bottom, just deep enough to accept medallions made from laser cut and etched 2 mm Baltic Birch. The face emblem is for the branch of service and is glued in at the time of use. The bottom emblem displays our club name and that the urn is provided free of charge with thanks for the service of the Veteran contained within. It is glued in as the urn is being assembled.

One of our members cuts the donated wood into the pieces needed for each urn, and assembles flat pack kits of these parts. Other members assemble and finish each kit, as needed, to keep a supply available for use. Klingspore's Woodworking Shops have donated warehouse space to these flat packs and finished urns for us to store them. The urn donation process has been quite well received and is working well. This all began when it was realized that indigent Veterans were being buried in cardboard boxes and styrofoam coffee cups, and we decided to do something about it.

Making the urn sized to accept the box provided by the crematory eliminates the need to open this box to transfer the cremains to a different shaped container. The cemetery workers will not open and transfer the cremains, but they will place the sealed box from the crematory into an urn and add the Medallion provided. Our urns were kept as small as possible, so that they can also be placed in a standard size crypt. Getting the right size to fit the boxes as well as fit in a crypt was a bit of a research challenge, but we now have a size that works for all situations in NC.

Charley
 
@Charles Lent Good call on confirming size restrictions. Rules and regs on this seems to vary somewhat but anyone making an urn that will be interred should check the rules at the place of "burial".

Seems odd to be this far along and still not be sure how the base is going to look. I have some cast metal feet that may work well. Regardless I have to make it so that someone else will be able to easily place the ashes inside. When I place the ashes for people I just seal the bottom permanently. In this case there is some degree of unknown so I need to make a serviceable bottom.

I use a wheel gauge to score the fibers for a rabbet.
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I use this small bit for a good reason.
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The small diameter leaves very little to clean up in the corners.
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Not trying to make this a Veritas advertisement but, these are what I use to set a consistent reveal around the top panel.
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It's handy to have a white pencil for working on darker woods.
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Here is the low down on how I taper the sides. I have to show you the mock up . . .
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Because Captain "I-haven't-had-a-shop-for-2-years" decided to install the top instead of dry fitting for this step and exceeded his bandsaw capacity
<_<
.
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Normally I would cut all four lower faces. Then flip and repeat for the upper faces. You use the off-cuts to fill in between the already cut area and the fence once that becomes necessary. Due to my oversight however, I will be edge sanding this thing into submission.
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How did I ever live without a wide edge sander!?! The orange tape with the arc on it will explain itself in a minute. I find the path to success often involves me protecting myself from myself so I double wrap the top with tape. The theory being that if I "whoops" I will scuff the tape, not the birds-eye and not have to start from scratch . . . no pun intended.
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After some initial shaping of one side you can see what the tape is for. Since I am essentially free-handing this I need a constant reference check.
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This is all four side fresh off the 80 grit.
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A little finer hand sanding and some card scraper work gets me here.
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I need to percolate a bit on the base, make a decision, make the base, and get some finish on this guy.
 
Great job Glenn! You've given me some ideas that I will use for sure.
So if I understood well, when you make these urns, you fill them upside down and glue the bottom for a definitive lock, don't you?
What is the original thickness of the wood prior to cutting the curve? 3/4"? I haven't seen you mentioning it.
 
Great job Glenn! You've given me some ideas that I will use for sure.
So if I understood well, when you make these urns, you fill them upside down and glue the bottom for a definitive lock, don't you?
What is the original thickness of the wood prior to cutting the curve? 3/4"? I haven't seen you mentioning it.
If I put the ashes in I glue the bottom in. If the urn goes to someone else I use screws. I will show the bottom and the fastening method once the finishing is done. It varies with the size and style but stays pretty basic.

On the poplar mock up the material started at 1". They wanted a more gentle curve to the final urn material started at a rough 7/8" off the bandsaw. IT has been a while since I made anything. I forgot how much patience the finishing process requires :)
 
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