Amish Funeral Casket — Plain Pine Boxes and Where They Come From

Built After Death, Not Before

In most Amish communities, the casket isn't ordered from a catalog or selected from a funeral home showroom. It's constructed by a local plain carpenter after the death occurs — typically within hours, so the body can be returned to the family home in it on Day 1 of the three-day funeral timeline.

The casket reflects the same theology that shapes every other element of an Amish funeral: Gelassenheit, the yielding of individual status before God. A casket that draws attention to the deceased through expensive materials, polished finishes, or decorative hardware would violate that principle. So the Amish casket is deliberately, emphatically plain.

What an Amish Casket Looks Like

An Old Order Amish casket is a flat-lidded wooden box with no embellishment:

• Material: Unpainted pine, poplar, or redwood
• Construction: Joined with wooden pegs or simple nails — no ornamental hardware
• Interior: No metal liners, no fabric padding, no pillows, no quilted satin
• Exterior: No varnish, no stain, no lacquer, no paint. The raw wood is left exposed.
• Hardware: No polished brass hinges, no decorative handles. The lid is secured with wooden pegs for the final closing.

The result is a casket that costs a fraction of commercial alternatives. It's also lighter, simpler to transport in a horse-drawn hearse, and — in the community's view — honest. It doesn't pretend that death is something other than what it is.

The Craftsmen

Local plain carpenters who specialize in casket-making are known within their communities and often build caskets alongside their regular furniture work. Some notable makers include:

• Schrock's of Walnut Creek in Holmes County, Ohio — one of the most well-known plain casket workshops
• Workshops in Arthur, Illinois operated by Obi Helmuth and his sons
• Joni Hochstetler of Northern Indiana, a legendary maker who constructed approximately 1,000 caskets over his career

These craftsmen produce caskets that are highly functional and precisely constructed — they just happen to be completely unadorned. The skill goes into the joinery, not the decoration.

The Swartzentruber Custom: Buying Your Casket at 60

In highly conservative Swartzentruber Amish communities, married couples purchase their caskets around age 60 — along with a matching rocking chair. The chair is used daily in the home. The caskets are stored on the farm, visible and accessible, serving as a constant reminder of mortality.

When death comes, the casket is already waiting. There's no need to contact a carpenter, no delay while one is built. The practical efficiency aligns with the theological purpose: death is not a surprise to be hidden away but an expected passage to be prepared for openly.

Where to Get a Plain Casket Outside the Community

If you're arranging a plain burial from outside the community — as a diaspora relative, interfaith spouse, or secular executor — sourcing the right casket can be the most stressful logistics problem. You have several options:

Ask the deacon. The local church deacon knows which community carpenters make caskets and can commission one immediately. This is the path the community uses and is almost always the fastest.

Contact a plain-community funeral director. Funeral directors experienced with Amish and Mennonite families maintain relationships with local casket makers and can source one as part of their services.

Purchase a plain casket commercially. Several online retailers sell unfinished pine caskets designed for natural burial. Ensure it meets the community's standards: no padding, no lining, no decorative hardware.

Know your rights under the FTC Funeral Rule. If you're working with a mainstream funeral home, federal law prohibits them from refusing to use a casket you've obtained elsewhere. They cannot charge you a "handling fee" for using a third-party casket, and they cannot require you to purchase one from their own inventory. If a funeral director pressures you toward a more expensive option, citing the FTC Funeral Rule by name usually resolves it.

Mennonite Casket Traditions

The Mennonite approach varies by conference:

• Old Order Mennonite communities use plain, unvarnished hardwood caskets with minimal hardware — similar to the Amish standard
• Modern Mennonite families may use a simple commercial casket or, if cremation is chosen, a rented casket for the service followed by cremation

In traditional burial settings, the casket is a container, not a display. It serves one purpose: returning the body to the earth.

For the full casket-sourcing process — including how to instruct a commercial funeral home, coordinate with a community carpenter, and verify FTC compliance — the Amish & Mennonite Funeral Guide covers every step.