Starting at the narrowest part of the coffin at the toe-end of the long (lower) side panels, secure the toe panel to both of the sides of the coffin. You can either use a power miter saw or set the blade to different angles on your circular saw to make the cuts. These instructions use a traditional rib design with glue and screws for easy construction and superior holding strength of the wood joinery (see figure 3). Start with a ~30-inch 1x4 and rip the 10- and 6-degree angles (see Figure X) and then cut a pair of at 14 inches in length.

For a burial in a natural burial cemetery, you may be required to use wooden pegs instead of metal screws or nails to secure the lid. Nobody is going to inspect the coffin closely enough to notice that the sides aren’t perfectly mitered. You could also use small wood screws (trim screws), but we recommend you to drill pilot holes to prevent the lid from splitting. The designer admitted that there have been critics who did not enjoy his work: “I offered the design to a Japanese company when I first made it but they really didn’t like the reminder of death.

If you’re looking for the perfect way to spook trick-or-treaters with your Halloween decorations, need a prop coffin for a theater production, or need a simple coffin for an actual burial, try building a plywood coffin. In a similar fashion, assemble the 6 panels that make up the sides, head, and foot of the coffin using ribs, glue, and screws. You should now have all the boards cut and ready to make six side panels including a head panel (16x18), a toe panel (12x18), two long (toe) side panels (56. In this case, 89% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status.

When finished with the floor, turn the casket over and add a rib that ties together all of the floor boards. When you attach ribs to the side panels, carefully position the ribs at the far ends (to leave room for the head and foot panels) back from the edge the same distance as the thickness of your boards (about 3/4 of an inch).If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. This floor board along with the joiner ribs will secure the head end and toe ends of the casket together. Make sure you are using the smaller of the 2 outline templates you made for the base or the sides won’t fit properly around it.

Last, flip the coffin over and add a rib joining the floor boards together over the length of the coffin. It is possible to build this entire coffin with only basic hand tools including a mallet or hammer, hand saw, tape measure, square, and a screw driver. These rails need not extend all the way to the outside edges of each side panel--each rail should be 1-2 inches short at each end to leave clearance room for the vertical ribs on the adjacent side panel.If you don’t think about it in advance, you’ll be buried or burnt in a chipboard box with paper that looks like wood and plastic handles that look like brass. You can make any adjustments to the angles cuts on the side pieces here if needed to get everything to fit together. The designer has his very own set of ‘Shelves for Life’ and will send you a free personal design if you send him your measurements.