Pope Benedict Casket

[Danny in Houston]

Hand cut dovetails?

[AHill]

I say no. Can't see any scribe marks. They are all exactly the same length. But, they could be. Wouldn't you want the best woodworker building a casket for a Pope?

[Bill Holt]

Of course, they are hand cut.

[fredhargis]

No idea (but i suspect they are) , but they are certainly well done.

[Danny in Houston]

The casket also has compound angles.  If you have ever visited the Vatican it's easy to guess there are some very skilled craftsmen available.  

Found this

And this

..the multiple coffins used are placed within one another. Following the Mass service of the late Pope’s funeral, Benedict’s cypress wood coffin was encased in a zinc coffin, followed by an exterior oak coffin, before being interred in the crypt beneath St. Peter’s Basilica that once housed St. John Paul II’s tomb.

[Stwood_]

The casket also has compound angles.  If you have ever visited the Vatican it's easy to guess there are some very skilled craftsmen available.  

Found this

And this

..the multiple coffins used are placed within one another. Following the Mass service of the late Pope’s funeral, Benedict’s cypress wood coffin was encased in a zinc coffin, followed by an exterior oak coffin, before being interred in the crypt beneath St. Peter’s Basilica that once housed St. John Paul II’s tomb.

3 compartments. It must be heavy

[DieselDennis]

3 compartments. It must be heavy

I was wondering why they had so many pallbearers.  Now I know.  No wonder they carry it up on their shoulders.

[2beast]

I wonder if our resident priest and woodworker, Fr Peter Tremblay  built the casket 

[Handplanesandmore]

Scribed lines tell nothing. Some remove them in handcut joinery while others add scribed lines after using a dovetail jig and router.

To me, judging from the slightly different tails (the blurry photo doesn't help), it was more likely cut by hand.

Simon