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A Simple Pine Coffin.
Recently, I was asked to make a simple pine coffin for a man’s wife who is dying of cancer. I feel very honored and I want to build this
well. I am thinking of joining the angled shoulder joints with an inside cleat (glued, screwed and bunged). In fact, I may make all joints
that way. I am also thinking of a rabbet and ado for the bottom/side joints. What I haven’t been able to solve are the handles. I was
thinking of possibly using rope, but am not ruling out brass handles.
I am open to any and all suggestions as I wish to honor this woman’s life with a solid and strong
resting place.
Thanks, Mark
Replies
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Mark,
Since you described the coffin as "simple, pine", I agree that the most practical joints would be rabbetted, reinforced with screws or dowels and cleats for the ends, and an angled butt joint for the shoulder joint, reinforced with glued and screwed cleats fom inside. I've often wondered how they used to make the shoulder joints on traditional (6 sided) coffins. It would be awkward to make using finger joints because they are usually made with router bit or dado blade; the length of the boards I think, would prohibit this.
If you need more info, the Rockler catalog, http://www.rockler.com, lists a book on do-it-yourself coffins. They also sell casket handles and other hardware.
The family must think highly of you to ask you to do this. Good luck with it. Maybe someone else wil have more suggestions. GP.
*Mark: How are you going to hinge the top and finish the outside? I have had lumber Kiln dried In a casket making factory.This was many years ago. I hope that the quality of the caskets has now improved.At that time,no wood was too low grade to be used in a casket.By the time that all the cloth and interior finish was added, the result was pretty decent. The solid wood caskets on the other hand,were decent quality.There being no easy way to hide poor material. I applaud you for your efforts on the friends behalf.I have wanted to build my own,strange as it seems,but I don`t know if the funeral director would use it or not.Especially since I would not be around to twist his arm. Pat
*Mark: I meant to ask how you were going to finish the inside. PAT
*http://www.casketfurniture.com/cask.htmlwe just finished making one of these "kits" as when didn't have advance warning - but it was just as gratifying.
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