cremation box

The last couple of days have been busy. I was asked by a family to make a box. The plan is for a viewing and cremation. I picked matching boards and was able to match up the grain. The boards had a red coloration along with the beetle blue. The family had requested that the box stay unfinished. I did some light sanding and here is the completed box.It doesn't get much simpler than this. I am very pleased with the finished product.

I was able to find a 1x6 that was almost completely blue. I was able to laminate it right in the middle of the lid. I would suspect that in the future I could make a cross or some other designs with the blue.

Embalming: is there an alternative?

I was watching some interesting videos on YouTube today. I had just typed "embalmer" into the search. (click on this title to see video) The part that struck me was an embalmer who stated that in Holland, it was against the law to embalm a body and then bury it. He stated that with all the enviornmental laws, it is considered harmful to the ground water to have embalmed bodies buried. I had been curious if other countries considered this an issue and if cemetaries had to go through an environmental review in the same way other businesses are obliged to.

Noah's promotion to sales director

Many people have asked why I chose Noah as a spokesperson for this business. Their are a variety of reasons. The first reason presented itself when I realized that I need to be ethical in marking my product given the role that I play in the hospital. As a social worker I can not use my job for personal gain. I also need to avoid even the perception of conflict. For this reason I recognized that it would be beneficial to have another person who would be in charge of sales of this product. I had approached Bax, my oldest child but he was not interested in any public role. When I approached Noah, he jumped at the idea. He is much more social and outgoing and likes to help people.


The second reason is that Noah is currently in his life skills year. I will give you a bit of background on what this means. I worked as a child protection social worker for 10 years. I had the opportunity to witness countless parent teen conflicts. One of the common factors in all of these conflicts was that the parent and teen no longer maintained a relationship. It is very difficult as a parent to provide direction or set limits for a teenager who no longer has relational ties to you. My goal in raising my children was to ensure that this relationship would be strong. I wanted to take an opportunity to invest in relationship prior to their teenage years. We decided that because our local school only went up to grade 7 we pay special attention to the grade 8 year. Noah and I already had the opportunity to take a 2 week motorcycle trip to Alaska in the fall. We also were open to jump on any opportunity which allowed bonding time between father and son. The sales opportunity will assist Noah in taking some knowledge that he has learned in school and incorporate it in a practical way. He will also be introduced to other business concepts that he may utilize later in life. I think this will be a good learning opportunity and time well spent.

Goals of Simple Pine Boxes

I think that some of my vision is outlined in the blog header. The idea of empowering people to take back their choice when it comes to death. If people want to have a home funeral and not involve any professionals, I would like to be able to provide them the information so they can achieve that goal. (many people are not even aware that this is possible). If people want to chose a traditional funeral with a professional provider and would like a unique box (totally finished and decorated) I want to provide them with this option.

Another very important principle is that I want facilitate dialogue around death. One of the issues that I experience almost daily in a hospital environment is so many people have not had honest discussions with their loved ones about the what ifs. I see situations where people are no longer able to express their own wishes and then the responsibility shifts to family members. The first question they are asked is have you talked about this scenario. Too often there has been no discussion and then the family has to struggle with trying to determine the right decision. Often there is disagreement between family members and in some families this struggle has led to break down and cutting of ties. If I can create a process that would facilitate this discussion while the person is healthy and full of life it would save a whole lot conflict later in life. I am reminded by a carpenter that I met in Salmon Arm. She showed me her final resting box, which was full of books and the top was tucked in behind. She advised me that when she built the bookcase she added a small box (which resembled a book and was stored in the bottom shelf). This box contained all of her final wishes. I think that is why I like the idea of "casket furniture". If a person buys a piece of furniture you can't help but think about the end and what it might look like. It think that I need to include a pamphlet or some written material so that I could plant a seed and encourage people to write down their preferences.

HOW THEN SHALL WE LIVE OUR LIVES


Too often casket furniture is thought to be unappealing because people are reminded that we all are going to leave this body. I think the opposite is true. I think that from a psychological perspective if a person is reminded several times a week of their own mortality (by seeing the piece of furniture) they would have the opportunity to make healthier choices. So for those people who are over committed and have difficulty saying no the furniture serves as a gentle reminder. (which one of us at the end of our lives wish we would have spend more time at work as opposed to time with family or friends)

Pitch to Windsor plywood

I spoke to Curtis and his spouse owner of the local Windsor Plywood store. I shared with him a powerpoint presentation that I put to music. This presentation was a tribute to their store and how they helped in the making of my grandmothers box. The amazing thing is that I had purchased supplies in 3 Windsor Plywood stores; in Prince George, Williams Lake and Calgary.

I think that they would be a great company to distribute my product. The problem is that they do not currently carry any product line of furniture.

The plus was that I gave him a copy of the powerpoint presentation and he told me he was going to share it with head office.

Another interesting note he shared with me is that he cannot get 1x6 and 1x8 beetle stained wood. He would be interested in getting some supplied if I can source some product and get it dried.

Visit to the Prince George Cemetary

I had the opportunity to meet Frane, the caretaker of the local cemetery. When I gave him my name he remembered I was the guy with Simple Pine Boxes. He was extremely helpful. The green part of the cemetery is not yet functioning. They are waiting to go before counsel to get some bylaw's changed. The time frame for these changes may be in the next month.

Frane also provided me with information about cremation urns. He recommended that I build a box. He offered to let me display this box in the columbarium. They have an area where the urn can be displayed behind glass. There was a couple of other wooden models displayed with business cards of the local carpenters.

Local funeral supplier

I had the opportunity to get some information from the only funeral home in Prince George that is owned and operated in this community. They were very helpful with providing me with information around cremation box requirements. One of the things that I thought was interested is their basic cremation container is a board with a 3 " rim about it, the top of the box is cardboard. This container costs $200.

They also have 2 local suppliers of boxes. The costs for these boxes are $1200 - $2600.

Dragon's Den

This past friday I saw in the paper that the show Dragon's Den was doing auditions in Prince George on the following Monday. We had 2 days to prepare our sales pitch. I thought this might be a great place to practice our sales pitch for simple pine boxes. I asked Noah to be my director of sales and encouraged him to provided the 3 minute sales pitch. My title was head of research and development, however for the purpose of the audition I was going to be his "Vanna White" We filled in an online application. One of the questions we had some fun with was the question if we had any other investors. I had put down my grandma liked the idea so much she was "all in"

I constructed a scale model of the boxes so we could show people the variety of ways to decorate the box. We finished the box the morning of the auditions. I then helped Noah practise for the sales pitch. The show provided a format. First define the problem and then explain how your product solves this specific problem. Although Noah was nervous he did a fabulous job. The producer stated that she thought that we had a unique product and also that the product would play well for a TV audience. If we pass this round we may be given a $500 cheque and asked to attend the taping of the show in Toronto.


This side of the box shows the green line of products. Natural manilla rope handles, all wood construction, salvage beetle killed pine. The boards would be dried in the solar kiln that we are currently building on our property.


A pet box which was added as an afterthought. I realized during the interview that given the urban population this would be a product in high demand. (By the way no animal was hurt in the taking of this photograph and no we have not sold any pet boxes at this point)


A flower box that Noah's friend Arial painted for us.












Traditional box