We’ve written about Chuck Lakin here before. He’s a retired librarian and active woodworker with a line in plain pine coffins. Above all, he’s a lovely guy.
He recently held a make-your-own-coffin workshop in his home town of Waterville, Maine.
No one came.
Lakin, 67, said he had planned to walk people through the process of building a coffin Saturday morning. He was going to hold the workshop with fellow natural-burial enthusiast Cam Weaver, of Mount Vernon.
Lakin said Barrels owner David Gulak told him there had been a lot of interest in the workshop. A lot of people had mentioned it over the past week or so.
Nobody signed up, however, and the event was canceled.
“They’re afraid of it. People will laugh about it nervously, but the people weren’t willing to recognize that it’s going to happen and say this is a natural part of life,” he said. “I see this all the time.”
More here.
Ah, what a shame. Wish Chuck lived round ‘ere – how useful, to learn how to make, a simple good-value* coffin, not to set up in business, just to help out – friends, others, me…
* if something is good value, it isn’t “cheap,” it’s just right, whatever the price. A plain pine coffin, no gilded plastic handles, no wasted oak etc, sounds like good value to me.
Well, GM, I have only very basic carpentry skills but I’ve made two pine tables that have lasted a decade and still going strong. I’ve been vaguely wondering recenty, how hard can it be? Something cremable but original could be made in your garage and sold for a quarter of the usual cost from a coffin retailer…
Keep going Chuck! These coffins are so beautiful and people are getting better at thinking and talking about it. It can’t be long until hospices are running ‘build your own coffin’ workshops and celebrants are coming in to help people plan ceremonies.