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+-- Thread: Source for small aluminum or stainless can? Or another method to seal a small urn? (/showthread.php?tid=7370684)
Source for small aluminum or stainless can? Or another method to seal a small urn? - FS7 - 09-19-2022
My ex-wife's father died unexpectedly last week (motorcycle accident) and I've been asked to make his urn. He was in my life for nine years, so I am honored as we got along well. The box itself is not a problem, as that will be the "main" urn.
They (my ex, her sister, and his wife) have asked for "personal" urns to scatter some ashes as they see fit. These will be small turned urns, not unlike salt shakers. My thought was to turn a blank and simply drill a hole in it to accept a tube of some sort, but I'm not married to that idea. What I really like is the idea of having something sealable on the bottom of an otherwise handheld urn. I think the ideal case would be a tube with a thumb-turn type of cap that I could recess into the bottom of an urn. I think having a threaded cap on a lid wouldn't look as nice, but there are options like that. Another option is a mechanical expansion plug, as those with nuts are somewhat unobtrusive and could be replaced with a small knurled knob.
With my grandfather, we simply used a coffee can and took it with us. I am not sure how best to approach this while still keeping the contents both secure and accessible.
RE: Source for small aluminum or stainless can? Or another method to seal a small urn? - cpolubin - 09-20-2022
Rather than a turned urn you could make a lidded box. When a dear friend died and we were going to scatter his ashes I built a box with special woods. After we scattered him (tossed him off the top of Sandia Peak in Albuquerque in a good crosswind) his wife had something to take home and use for memories. It meant a lot to her.
Cliff
RE: Source for small aluminum or stainless can? Or another method to seal a small urn? - FS7 - 09-20-2022
(09-20-2022, 04:48 PM)cpolubin Wrote: Rather than a turned urn you could make a lidded box. When a dear friend died and we were going to scatter his ashes I built a box with special woods. After we scattered him (tossed him off the top of Sandia Peak in Albuquerque in a good crosswind) his wife had something to take home and use for memories. It meant a lot to her.
Cliff
The main urn will be a lidded box. I have some wormy figured koa that's probably as old as he was, and I did not have a good use for it other than something special. He loved Hawaii (probably his favorite place) so that seemed logical to me. I filled the voids and knots with epoxy and the grain looks pretty amazing so I'm happy. It's only enough for the sides of the box. The bottom and top will be something else (maybe walnut, I'm not sure).
I don't know why but for some reason I was thinking of something that fits easily in the hand for the other urns. They don't have to be turned, I guess, but it seemed like it make sense to have something that fits comfortably in a pocket.
RE: Source for small aluminum or stainless can? Or another method to seal a small urn? - Woodshop - 09-21-2022
I have a wood threader set up I use, But You can use PVC threaded fittings to turn a lidded box. Check out this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtXAcVjwdP0
RE: Source for small aluminum or stainless can? Or another method to seal a small urn? - FS7 - 09-21-2022
(09-21-2022, 08:10 AM)Woodshop Wrote: I have a wood threader set up I use, But You can use PVC threaded fittings to turn a lidded box. Check out this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtXAcVjwdP0
I have never seen that. But it's an absolutely brilliant idea. I don't even need to make part of it decorative - I could epoxy in the threaded part, and use a regular PVC plug on the bottom. If it's set deep enough that would let it sit upright on a flat surface. I will definitely test this out.
RE: Source for small aluminum or stainless can? Or another method to seal a small urn? - Woodshop - 09-21-2022
(09-21-2022, 09:27 AM)FS7 Wrote: I have never seen that. But it's an absolutely brilliant idea. I don't even need to make part of it decorative - I could epoxy in the threaded part, and use a regular PVC plug on the bottom. If it's set deep enough that would let it sit upright on a flat surface. I will definitely test this out.
This type of thread is design to get tighter the deeper it goes if you need it to turn easier you might need to sand some thread off or turn a void at the back of the plug threads where it gets tighter.
RE: Source for small aluminum or stainless can? Or another method to seal a small urn? - FrankAtl - 09-21-2022
Very clever idea! Thanks for the link.
RE: Source for small aluminum or stainless can? Or another method to seal a small urn? - Turner52 - 09-25-2022
When I turned the one for my wife I made it large eneough for me too. 1 cubic inch per pound of body weight. I epoxied in pvc fittings in the top of the vase and in the cap. Workrd great.
RE: Source for small aluminum or stainless can? Or another method to seal a small urn? - FS7 - 09-29-2022
I finished two of the personal urns and the main urn. First, the big one.
![[Image: 20220929-190411.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/JjYgtRc/20220929-190411.jpg)
It's a mitered box, made of two separate pieces of old koa. They were both 5.5" or 6" wide or thereabouts, but one piece seemed to have relatively plain figure (or rather a lot of sapwood) while the other had a great burl/curl/quilt figure. So I filled the big holes with epoxy and the little holes with CA glue, and I ripped the smaller piece lengthwise and turned them on edge to create good accent. I'm glad I did this, because from what I could see after jointing the edge figure on the secondary board was a lot better than the face figure. I wish I had a picture of the back, because it has some interesting light sapwood contrast in there. The top is quartersawn cherry (for maximum stability) and the bottom is wenge, screwed in to allow for access to the interior of the urn. I used three screws in each long dimension and two in each narrow dimension, avoiding the corner (miter) joints so I don't stress them. I don't think the ashes would be in there without a bag, but just in case it should be tight enough to avoid leakage. Its like a miniature mausoleum, and knowing him - he had to have the best of everything - I think he'd be proud. He did well, and he'd scoff at even the best the catalog had to offer and want something custom that didn't exist yet but was better than anything available. I hope that's it. The finish is Polyx, three coats hand rubbed and then two light coats hand rubbed after 500 grit pad sanding in between. Comes out very, very, soft and smooth.
![[Image: 20220928-224032.jpg]](https://i.ibb.co/DfsZs1X/20220928-224032.jpg)
I borrowed the idea here for the small urns. They're about 6" x 1.5" or so, small enough to comfortably hold in a hand - as mentioned, the size of a salt shaker or something close to it. I bought 3/4" PVC fittings and turned the parts to about .995" diameter and cut them at roughly 1" for insertion length. On the drill press, I drilled out using a 1" Forstner to the proper depth (top and bottom), and then a 7/8" bit to about 3/4" from the bottom to store ashes. That way the bottom piece (female threads) has something to bottom out against while still allowing for storage underneath. I used ample amounts of JB ClearWeld epoxy to lock them in place, but the top piece was cut roughly round on the bandsaw before turning with light cuts to ensure I didn't stress the epoxy too much. The goncalo alves, I tried to match the grain pretty well with the plug tightness (it worked), and with the bubinga I didn't care because the grain wasn't so obvious. They are going to different people, so the design didn't really matter and didn't have to match. It was just whatever. I wire burned the parts on the bubinga, but not the goncalo alves. Why? No reason.
Anyway, I am quite thankful to have found the option to use PVC fittings for this. I don't do "recreational" substances but I could see retail applications for something like this.