Instructions
Body Board/ Bier Burial
A board is NOT required to carry a body. But something leakproof is. The point is to make transport decent and socially acceptable. For initial transport from a care facility after death:
Until you can obtain a casket or bier, a plastic tarp surrounding the body inside the back of a vehicle can be just as caring and respectable as a plastic body bag to accomplish transport.
However Pall Bearers are essential. You can't carry a body alone: 3 min How to Carry Video
Larkspur Conservation Cemetery
Taylor Hollow, Nashville, TN
To make a Bier find a 2 ft wide sheet sheet of plywood (1/2" thick for light person, 3/4" thick for heavy person) of CDX plywood (must be sanded) or ACX plywood (no need to sand).
A 4 ft wide sheet from a home improvement store will cost about $60. They can cut it in half for you if you don't have a table saw.
Draw hand-holds about 1 1/2" from the edge. Drill a hole on the line of each (so you can get the saber saw into the hole. Saw the hand-hold ovals.
Get a king size sheet or blanket to wrap the board and body in. In the above photo the body and board are wrapped separately. But if you don't want the form of the body to be visible then you place the board on the sheet or blanket and then the body on top of the board then wrap.
Setting the wrapped bier on a set of sawhorses may facilitate wrapping strips of sheeting at 5 points along the body (head, chest, waist, legs and feet).
Here is a guide for lifting, carrying and lowering a casket or body board for burial.
Get some approx 1/2" rope or straps for lowering the bier into the grave.
For a 6 ft deep grave you need approx three 20 ft lengths of strap or rope (or six 10 ft lengths -which is left in the grave because it's tied to the handles). Manilla Rope is biodegradable if it must be left in the ground.
Bring two or three heavy boards to traverse the grave so you can place the bier above the grave.
Heartwood Preserve Conservation Cemetery, Trinity, FL
