The Oak Casket

An oak casket has traditionally been the mid-price choice for where to spend your final rest. Constructed of sturdy red oak wood, these coffins are usually hand-crafted by artisans as an alternative to cheaper polyboard or pine coffins, and often embellished with traditional American detailing. Oak wood is dense, hard, and resistant to insects and parasites due to its high tannin content, making it ideal to protect human bodies. In addition, the natural grain of oak wood is very attractive and holds finishes well.

Oak coffins have some disadvantages when compared to more expensive metallic caskets – the biodegradable material can succumb to the elements over time, exposing the corpse within to water and parasites. For that reason, may funeral homes suggest a protective layer within the box that offers an additional level of protection. Unfortunately, no type of casket can guarantee that the body inside will be spared the rigors of dessication.

A high-quality red oak model, such as the type manufactured by some sects of Trappist monks, will usually cost over two thousand dollars – no small investment! But choosing the environment where your physical body will spend Eternity, no matter what your religion believes, is no small decision. Oak coffins celebrate the power and glory of Mother Nature, returning us to the Earth that gave us birth in the most natural way possible.