Heirloom caskets and urns
I build caskets and urns to order, by hand, in my Baltimore shop. Pine and reclaimed hardwood, mostly for people who would rather choose this themselves than leave it to someone else on the worst week of their life.
The timing, said plainly
There is one thing worth being straight about before anything else, because it decides whether I can help you at all.
A burial usually happens within a week. Building a casket by hand takes longer than that.So if you have lost someone this week, I am probably not the right person to call, and I would rather say so now than take an order I cannot finish in time.Your funeral director can help you today, and that is the right call to make.
What I build is the one you plan ahead of time. There is no clock on it, you choose the wood, and you get to have an opinion about something that is otherwise chosen for you in a hurry. Plenty of people keep theirs at home until it is needed. It is a wooden box: a good one sits in a garage or a loft, and some people use theirs as a blanket chest in the meantime.
What I build
All wood, joined and finished so it holds together and does its job. Every one is made to order. I do not keep finished stock on a shelf, which is the same reason the timing above matters.
A plain pine casket
The oldest and simplest version of this, and the one people ask me for most often. Solid pine, no metal fittings, no sealed lining.
What plain does not mean
Plain describes the material, not the workmanship. If a pine box looks cheap it is almost never the pine. It is visible screws, a lid that does not sit flush, and hardware that arrived in the same carton as the boards. Plain here means joints cut properly and nothing pretending to be something it is not.
Reclaimed hardwood
For when you want something with some history in it. Oak, walnut, cherry, whatever the salvage actually was. Heavier than pine, and it carries marks from its first life, which is usually the reason people choose it rather than a fault to be sanded out.
Urns
The same work at a smaller scale, and the same choice of wood. An urn is often the first thing someone commissions, because it is the piece that ends up somewhere it is seen every day rather than once.
Green and natural burial
If you are planning a green or natural burial, the requirement is usually straightforward: all wood, nothing that will not break down, no metal fittings. That is how I build anyway, so nothing has to be adapted. Maryland has natural burial grounds and the number of them is growing.
From your own tree
If there is a tree on your property that means something to you, it can become the casket. I mill and dry my own lumber, so this is work I actually do rather than a nice idea.
How it works
The tree comes down, the log gets milled into boards, the boards dry, and then I build. Barn timber, boards someone in the family kept for a reason nobody wrote down, and trees that came down in a storm have all turned into work here.
The catch, which is drying time
Wood from a tree felled today is not ready to build with for a long while. So this only works if we start early, and it is the whole argument for planning ahead in one sentence: bring me the tree before you need the box.
Questions people actually ask
- Can I buy a casket before I need one?
- Yes, and most of what I build is exactly that. There is nothing unusual about it. People arrange it the way they arrange a will, and it means the choice gets made calmly by the person it belongs to.
- Will a funeral home accept a casket I did not buy from them?
- Yes. Under the Federal Trade Commission's Funeral Rule, a funeral provider cannot refuse to handle a casket or urn you bought somewhere else, and cannot charge you a fee for doing so. They also cannot require you to be there when it is delivered.
- What wood do you use?
- Pine for a traditional plain box. Reclaimed hardwood when you want something with some history in it. And if you have wood of your own, I can build from that. A tree that came down on your property, a barn that was taken apart, boards someone in the family kept for a reason nobody wrote down. I mill and dry my own lumber, so working from your timber is normal work here rather than a special request. The one condition is time: green wood is not ready to build with for a long while, so bring me the tree early.
- How much does a pine box casket cost?
- It depends on the wood, the size and the detail, so I quote each piece rather than post a number that would not mean anything. A plain pine box and a reclaimed hardwood casket are not the same job. Tell me what you have in mind and you get a real figure.
- How long does it take?
- Weeks rather than days for a build from wood I already have dried, and longer if we are starting from a standing tree. Once I know the piece and the wood you get a real date, not a guess.
- How long does a wooden casket last?
- A wooden casket is built to break down, and for a green burial that is the point rather than a flaw. How long depends on the wood and on the ground it is in. If you want something built to resist that, I am not the right maker for it.
Worth reading before you decide
What a funeral home must accept. The question that stops most people, and the federal rule that answers it.
A guide to pine caskets. What a pine box actually is and how it is built.
Start the conversation
There is no rush and no obligation. Tell me what you are thinking about and I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person to build it.
Start a commission(443) 534-7457tyler@oakleafcustomwoodworking.com