Funeral Coffin

[retrocop]

Just returned from my beautiful and much loved 80 yr old cousins funeral.She was a wonderful wife and mother and left two great daughters and 80yr old husband. A very close family..
My question is that she was cremated and arrived at the Crem in a well crafted basket weave coffin.The lid was held on by rope toggles similar to duffel coat horn fastenings and interweaved with blue Forget-me Not type flowers. Being a person who admires craftsmanship I couldn't help staring at the coffin throughout the sevice and thinlking 'what a bloody waste' if that goes up in smoke. I am quite a cynical bloke and have met quite a few undertakers but does any one think that this coffin is actually going to end up in a oven with my cousin?
Your thoughts?

[andy-hughes]

Absolutely - why wouldn't it?

The family pay for it, the providers have their profit for making it - I don't imagine anyone is in the business of 're-cycling' coffins of any sort.

[bookbinder]

A cynical person (of which I am not one, of course) would doubt that such a fine coffin would be sent up in smoke. There might be a reuse factor in there somewhere, but proving it could be difficult.

[wolf63]

I would like to think that they do recycle the coffins wood or otherwise. It's an awful waste to just burn them.

[woofgang]

My mother was cremated in a similar coffin. I know a bit about basketry and such coffins are fairly quick to make and the materials are not expensive.

[gingejbee]

Just one of the reasons to opt for a "direct cremation"....no funeral service, no funeral directors, no ridiculous costs for useless things etc.

[Sam1960]

I asked a similar question to a friend of an undertaker a few years ago, and it appears that in the UK the coffin goes with the body.
https://beyond.life/help-centre/arranging-a-funeral/when-a-body-is-cremated-what-happens-to-the-coffin/

[TonyV]

Yes it all goes up the chimney body and coffin. A friends family had his coffin done in Leicester City colours, it was a real piece of art.

[retrocop]

I have made the acquaintance with many undertakers and one of my colleagues was a police coroners officer. Believe me a few back handers change hands . I know that those 'oak'and 'teak 'coffins are chipboard with a veneer .Still can't believe those basket weave coffins go up in smoke. Who would know if they were recycled? :-)

[gness]

My son was sitting at the end of the row beside where MrG's coffin would arrive and stand. When the ivy covered woven wicker casket arrived....complete with toggles the son stared at it and said.....
For goodness sake, Mother.....you've put him in a picnic basket......
Didn't go up in smoke....it was a burial.

[TonyV]

In my will my bodies going to donation, they can use any reusable bits, and do what they want with the rest. I wont feel a thing lol.

[Patsy33]

Gness, lol!...

[Cloverjo]

Couldn’t help laughing at that, gness. Sorry.

When my mum died I mentioned getting a wicker coffin, but the undertaker talked us out of it saying you could see the body through the gaps and it would be distressing. What a load of nonsense, they could have lined it with some material.

[douglas9401]

Ain't it funny, the things that folk think?

[gness]

Clover......they not only line the coffin but it's a very long, thick lining that folds in over the body when the lid is put in place...what you were told was indeed nonsense.....x

[woofgang]

yup, my Mum's was lined with a thick cottony neutral coloured cloth, rather like a painter's drop cloth.

[Cloverjo]

I kind of imagined that would be what they used. I’m quite annoyed with myself for being talked out of the wicker. The man was hoping to make more money on a wooden one, I suppose.

When my dad goes he’s said we can take him to the crematorium in a wheelbarrow to save money.

[gness]

That's a good idea, Clover......just make sure you oil the wheel so you don't draw attention to yourselves.... ;-)

[tamborine]

A local scrap business received precious metals from the crem - in a childs coffin!

[EDDIE51]

The Coffin ALWAYS gets cremated along with the dead body in it !
It is now possible to get a Cardboard coffin ( But they call it 'Fiber Board')
There are 100s Coffin Making companies who would soon be out of work if coffins were not buried / cremated along with the body.

[bodeker]

I saw a coffin online , a nice green one with big white daisies and showed it to my daughter, She said No Way ! I said you are taking all the fun out of this lol Think I would need to have it all arranged before I go lol .