If your family member didn't go out behind an end-of-life plan, yous might not know what to practice with their remains. Y'all may accept received a sealed urn from the Cremation Social club of Philadelphia and ready information technology aside while y'all pondered all of your options.

After researching and considering everything you can practise with a person's cremated remains, maybe y'all have decided to divide the remains amidst loved ones, scatter the ashes at a meaning location, or commission a piece of glasswork using a pocket-size portion of the cremation ashes.

All of these options require that you lot open your loved one's urn. Here are some tips for having to complete this process.

How to Open an Urn

You lot may have many questions nearly how to open up a sealed urn and what happens if you open an urn.

We will attempt to walk yous through the process by giving y'all a guide based on the type of cremation urn yous have in your possession.

Earlier we begin, some people ask, "is it illegal to open up an urn?" We can assure you that information technology is perfectly legal to open an urn. Cremated remains are considered sterile. However, it is important to go on in heed that the urn does hold the last remains of a person, so endeavor not to distance yourself from that reality when you handle the contents.

metal cremation urn

How to open a metal urn

Metal urns often have threaded lids, which ways opening a metal cremation urn may be as piece of cake equally unscrewing the top. Still, some metal urns are "sealed" to discourage them from being opened by accident.

How to unseal a metal urn

If the metallic urn is sealed with wax or agglutinative, endeavour to open it by soaking a cotton swab in fingernail smoothen remover or an epoxy solvent. Repeatedly run the swab along the sealed portion of the urn. Y'all might take to wiggle the hat several times or use a flathead screwdriver to open the urn.

opening cremation boxes

How to open cremation box

Some people cull to purchase a wooden cremation box to hold their loved one'southward remains. Many of these boxes can be opened by removing several small screws from the bottom of the receptacle. The bottom panel may be lifted or slid out of the way to reveal the contents.

How to open an urn to scatter ashes

Some families want to open an urn considering they wish to scatter their loved one's cremated remains. Nosotros recommend that you figure out how to open up the urn earlier the scattering ceremony takes identify. The solemnity of the occasion may be disrupted if you have to search online "how to open a permanently sealed urn" while others are waiting.

Y'all may also consider transferring the cremated remains from the urn to a scattering tube, which is designed to simplify the handful procedure.

Other Considerations When Opening Cremated Remains

Most of the time, the cremated remains volition be inside a heavy-duty plastic handbag within the receptacle. This makes transferring the remains easier for families.

You may experience uncomfortable when handling your loved one's cremated remains. Consider asking for assistance from a friend if you wish to open your loved one's urn to transfer the contents to another container.

Also, exercise non hesitate to reach out to the Philadelphia Cremation Society for assistance. You can talk with one of our knowledgeable staff members by calling (610) 557-8169, or you lot can peruse our weblog to learn more about cremation and what to do with your loved ane'southward cremated remains.