Hi there,
My friend recently lost her partner and later he was cremated, his mother was still the 'next of kin', therefore she received the ashes.
Then over a week later, the mother in law gave my friend half of the ashes to keep. The ashes look like gravel and not the powder that we expected. Can ashes come out this way, or has the mother in law pretended to give her some ashes and kept the real ones herself. Neither of us have ever seen real human ashes but other people have said there's were powder.
Regards Toni x

The human ashes I've seen were a mixture of gray dust and some larger pieces of hard, almost glassy chunks.

What is volume and weight of human ashes (cubic inches and lbs) after cremation for a male, ht: 5'-9"; weight - 218 lbs and for a female -5'2" and 120 lbs? I am shopping for cremation urns and memorial niches while I am still of sound mind and reasonably good health. Refer me to any good websites on this topic. Thanks much and appreciated.

The remains I have seen (2) have been contained in a box about 6"x8"x4" with room to spare, and probably weighed about five pounds.

tonifcuk...
As a funeral director/embalmer I can tell you that many people have the misconception that a cremated body will result in "ashes" During and after the initial cremation process larger bones are often left whole and are then removed from the cremation retort, pulverized to as small of pieces as lossible and then they are processed and packaged... Unless we are dealing with a stillborn baby or infant, the remains of a cremation with always contain small bone fragments, sometimes surgical pins and staples. I hope this answers your question...

[QUOTE=JENNSAMORA;1510248]tonifcuk...
As a funeral director/embalmer I can tell you that many people have the misconception that a cremated body will result in "ashes" During and after the initial cremation process larger bones are often left whole and are then removed from the cremation retort, pulverized to as small of pieces as lossible and then they are processed and packaged... Unless we are dealing with a stillborn baby or infant, the remains of a cremation with always contain small bone fragments, sometimes surgical pins and staples. I hope this answers your question... [/QUOT

Thank you for answering this for me I have never believed that the ashes that we received were my dads real ashes as they were quite large almost like little dogs teeth or even rather like some cat litter that I have seen , I live in wales uk and the council give you a cardboard box rather like a chocolate box made of biodegradable cardboard when you take of the lid its like a tissue box with perforations and once opened cannot be resealed , we walked up to the mountain facing our home as our place of choice as we could gaze and chat to dad whenever we liked and when I opened the box I was amazed to find that his ashes were not going to be blowing in the wind like it shows in the films ,
So I tried to scatter but like gravel it was too heavy to blow so I literally had to walk around scattering it all over the grass , so this site has helped me thank you JENNSAMORA my worst nightmare is now over nic .

THE CREMATION PROCESS IS one that takes two to three hours to complete at an average temperature of 1800 degrees Fahrenheit. The process results in the complete combustion of a body's organic materials. The remaining fragments are the inorganic materials that comprise a body's bone structure.

THE CREMAINS ARE what has been previously referred to as ashes. Cremains is a special word that is a shortened version of “cremated remains” and is used to describe a cremated body. Following the cremation process, the remaining bone fragments are physically reduced to a uniform consistency and size. Cremains of an average size adult weigh between three and nine pounds and take up a volume of approximately 200 cubic inches. They are actually much more similar in color and appearance to crushed sea shells or fine gravel than they are to ashes.

Quoted from
Cremation Information

Hi again... I asked my boss (The funeral Director) for more information about cremation and the varying appearance of the cremains...
He said some of the variables that would explain why some come out more ash-like than others are...
the age and type of the machinery that is used to pulverize the bones, the amount of time that they run the machine, and the age of the deceased (bone density). Also, they run a magnet over the bones to collect any metal so no metal damages the machine.

I lost my grandfather... after his death... I have decided that I will life again... for doing so... I am planting apple tree for him... and his ashes will be work as fertilizer... and will be in the vein of tree.. in apple season.. every apple will remember my grandfather and I can talk to my grandfather daily...

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Biodegradable Urns