I'm gonna hate my next project

[182much]

My mother-in-law just passed away due to cancer, and will be cremated.
Her husband of 52 years wants to be with her when his time comes.
We searched around and what they get for urns amazed me.
So I'm thinking of makeing a heart shaped box that would be big enough to hold both of them.
I dont have a good band saw so it looks like a lot of grinding with a Dremel.
Anyone have any ideas on how to do this?
Also what kind of wood should I use?
All info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks Mel

[cabinetman]

What cutting tools do you have other than a Dremel?
.

[182much]

tools

I have a table saw. jig saw small drill press and a router

[Popeye]

I don't think the wood really matters, what ever looks good to you or the family. Make the lid a tight fit. Pat

[cabinetman]

Without a band saw, a solid wood, heart shape would be somewhat difficult. A simpler way would be to use bending ply, or just kerf plywood on the TS, shape it, and then veneer it. It'll look like solid wood.
.

[crokett]

Here is what I'd do, also not having a bandsaw.

Draw a heart shape on your computer. Draw a smaller one inside it and make the space between them equal to the thickness of the wall you want. Take it to a copy place and have it enlarged to the size you need. Make a few copies of the finished drawing. Take it back home Trace your design on some hardboard or MDF. Cut close to the outside and inside lines with your jigsaw, then sand to the line. Use this template to make several cut outs on your prepped stock. Flush trim them with the router to the template. Stack these up to form the sides of your heart box and once they are all glued, sand the in and outsides flush. The top and bottom would be the same basic shape without the middle cut out.

This will take a while but it is all basic wodworking. You could even use contrasting woods for each layer. It has a slight advantage over veneering which requires a different skill and tools to do well, especially on an odd shape like this.

[Bill in Buena Park]

Mel,
I'm sorry to hear of your loss.

Based on the dual capacity volume requirements, which I assume would be 500+ cubic inches, based on assumption of interior of 8x8x8in guessed from this (http://www.qualitycremation.com/hwc_...herry_dual.htm), I believe the dimensions of your project will be fairly sizeable. Are you set on the heart shape, or something you could route/carve hearts into?

For the height of your project and for a solid look, C-Man's kerfing approach on bending ply seems the most straightforward. Unless you have access to an OSS, you might have difficulty sanding the interior of the multiple stacked hearts approach recommended by Crockett (although the wood variation he mentions could be very beautiful.)

Another (perhaps less graceful) approach would be to join several pieces of solid wood into a heart shape (barrel fashion), and then belt/disc sand the exterior corners/surface to leave the curved heart shape.

[MilDoc]

Whatever you decide, seal the inside very well with plastic, or several coats of sealant. A friend of mine built a walnut box for his dad's ashes. Move it just a little and you can see a puff of "smoke" coming out. He finally sealed the outside!

[182much]

will this work?

I was thinking that I could make the front and back to shape, then get some thicker stock and begin to shape it like I was makeing some cove molding on the TS,
I know there will be alot of hand work, but the time spent will justify the purpose.
I will enjoy the work, just hating what the project will be used for.
I like the idea of doing some sort of inlay

[TheOne]

Sorry for you and your wifes loss. My wife became an orphan this past Feb.

What about using your jigsaw to cut the shape you want into series of boards then glue them together. Then use your drill press with a forstner bit to hollow out the inside. Or if you shape the outside & inside of the top piece then after you hollow out the inside you can use a flush triming router bit with a top bearing to speed up the finishing.

All the best.