Funeral Supplies

Funeral Supplies
By Andrew Hodges
August 2006

Funeral supplies include caskets, cremation containers, urns and vaults. This article will focus on caskets and cremation containers. Next month's article will deal with urns and vaults.

A casket is the traditional North American four-sided structure with an interior that includes a bed and pillow to house the deceased's body for the purpose of visitation, funeral, burial and/or cremation. Is a coffin the same thing? No. A coffin is the traditional European version that has six sides, and the shoulder end is wider than the foot end. Though caskets can also be cremated (as long as they are made of a combustible material), cremation containers are offered as plain containers with little or no interior made for purpose of housing the body for direct cremation without a public viewing.

Because there are a number of casket suppliers to choose from in North America that manufacture and/or distribute caskets, every funeral home will have a different selection. In accordance with Ontario law, every funeral home must have a minimum of eight caskets in a selection room, which can include cremation containers, ranging in price from low to high.

The price of a casket will depend on the materials used, the labour involved, the casket supplier and how the individual funeral home formulates their prices.

With the construction of a casket, it is more difficult to build something out of harder wood such as mahogany, than it is to build a casket from a softer wood like cottonwood. Common materials used in the construction of the casket exterior of a wood casket include: cloth covered (pressboard or cardboard construction with a fabric covering), veneer, cottonwood, poplar, ash, elm, pine, maple, birch, oak, cherry, walnut and mahogany. Metal caskets include: 20-gauge metal, 18-gauge metal, 16-gauge metal, bronze and copper. A lower the gauge number means the metal is thicker.

A casket's price can also be affected by how decorative it is (such as ornate corners or handles), what kind of lid it has (one-piece, or "full couch" caskets are usually more expensive than two-piece lid caskets) and the finishing of the wood.

Interiors can be made of rayon, crepe, satin or velvet fabric, and come in white, off-white, tan, blue and other colours. I prefer off-white because it is more flattering to most skin tones. As well, the "cap panel" - the interior of the lid, can be decorated with stitches (to produce decorative pleats and folds), embroideries, to create nature or religious images, or they can even be prints, such as the classic "Last Supper" image, or more personalized images such as the "19^th Hole."

There are three kinds of casket beds: adjustable mattress, inflatable mattress and synthetic straw. The adjustable mattress is a metal frame with cushioning. It can be raised or lowered with an Allen key crank at the ends of the casket. The nice thing about the adjustable beds is that during viewing times, the deceased can be raised to be more viewable and than lowered at the time of the casket being closed. Inflatable mattresses are exactly that and I find they are hard to adjust to accommodate different situations and my greatest fear would be the air escaping during a visitation, and so for those reasons, I do not carry any caskets with that style of bed. But honestly, very few caskets have that style of bed. In my opinion, the synthetic straw is the best because it is the least expensive and can be adjusted to just about every situation: if someone has a curved spine, for example, the bed can be adjusted to make it look like they don't. The straw can also be removed or added to accommodate large or smaller people.

A standard size casket (which is kind of an oxymoron because caskets styles vary in outside and inside dimensions) is designed to fit most body types. It is safe to say that the standard casket can allow room for people that are five feet to around six foot five inches tall. This is because only the head panel of a casket is open during a viewing. People's bodies can be positioned to fit in a casket. When positioning a taller person, sometimes it is necessary to bend the legs at the knee slightly, but with only their upper body showing it looks like they are lying straight. For those five feet and under, particularly children, there are smaller childrens' caskets available.

In regard to weight, the width of a person may require an oversized casket. Oversized caskets are wider, taller and longer. During the funeral arrangement meeting, the funeral director will bring up the topic of an oversized casket if he or she feels it is necessary. But, in some situations the arrangement meeting my take place before the body has been released to the funeral home and the funeral director may not be aware of the person's body size. In that situation, it is important that the person responsible for making funeral arrangements informs the funeral director of the situation.

Cremation containers are options for services that include either a brief private family viewing or no viewing at all. The laws of Ontario dictate that when a body is received at a crematorium it must be in a rigid container. Excluding metal caskets, regular burial caskets can be cremated, keeping in mind any metal on the outside of the casket, such as metal handles will be removed. However, if a family requests no viewing then a cremation container is a way to adhere to Ontario laws and reduce costs at the same time. Cremation containers can be made out of heavy-duty cardboard, pressboard or other wood such as pine and may have a simple interior or none at all.

For families that request the type of service with visitation and/or funeral service with the body present followed by cremation, many funeral homes have added rental caskets to their selection. A rental casket is specially designed for cremation to reduce cost and effects to the environment. It consists of an inner simple container to hold the body and an outer shell that looks and works like any other casket for the purpose of a visitation and/or funeral service. After the funeral service, the funeral home staff removes the inner container. The inner container, holding the body, will have its own lid set in place and then be transported to the crematorium. When cremation takes place, because the inner container has no wood stain, there are less harmful emissions entered into the environment. A new inner container is placed in the rental casket shell to be used again when requested.

Can a family supply their own casket? Yes. A casket can be selected from an outside source. Or, if a member of the family has the means and know-how to build a casket, they may do so. However, when the casket is received at the funeral home, the next of kin responsible for arrangements will be asked to sign a waiver that says the funeral home is not responsible for the integrity of that casket. That is to say, if the handles fall off, for example, the funeral home will not be held accountable.

When selecting a casket or cremation container, as with anything involved with a funeral, there are choices. And as mentioned, every funeral home will have a different selection. Personally, I do not carry higher end caskets made of mahogany, bronze or copper because I feel they are excessive. If a family requests that style of casket then I will do my best to accommodate, but in my opinion, every casket does the same thing and a cloth-covered pressboard or mahogany casket will not make a funeral any more or any less meaningful because funerals are about people.