Drummond Island, Michigan 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Drummond Island, Michigan 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Drummond Island, Michigan 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Drummond Island, Michigan 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Drummond Island, Michigan 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall

Drummond Island, Michigan 3D Wood Map | Laser-Cut Birch Nautical Chart

$ 368.00
24.5 x 31 in
Baltic birch, hand-stained water
Up to nine laser-cut birch layers
Carved bathymetric relief, laser-etched labels
Soundings: NOAA nautical survey data
How the Water Becomes Wood

A chart is a stack of flat sheets until the water's real soundings tell it what shape to take.

  1. SurveyReal bathymetric sounding data sets every contour line before a single cut is made.
  2. CutEach depth band is laser-cut from its own sheet of Baltic birch, up to nine layers deep.
  3. StainWater layers are stained by hand, reading darker the deeper the water runs.
  4. StackThe sheets are registered and stacked in sequence, and the bed's true shape rises out of the wood.
  5. EtchDepths and place names are burned into the grain itself, never printed on it.
  6. FrameA solid Baltic birch frame and acrylic glass finish the piece, ready to hang.

Drummond Island at the eastern tip of the Upper Peninsula, carved in Baltic birch at 24.5 by 31 inches: the big island, Potagannissing Bay's scatter of islets, and the channels of the North Channel's western door, cut one depth contour per layer.

Drummond is one of the largest freshwater islands in the United States, reached only by the ferry across DeTour Passage, and it guards the point where Lake Huron narrows toward the St. Marys River. Potagannissing Bay on its north side holds dozens of small islands in shallow, sheltered water, a kayaker's maze that the chart renders as a field of birch islets in the top layers. On the north shore, the Fossil Ledges expose ancient coral seabed in flat stone shelves, a reminder that this water has been here far longer than the lake itself.

Contours are laser-cut and stacked by hand, names engraved into the wood, acrylic glass over the relief, solid Baltic birch frame.

Drummond people are ferry people; the crossing is part of every trip and half the identity. DeTour Passage runs right through this chart.

The engraving spans the island, Potagannissing Bay, DeTour Village across the passage, and the channels toward the North Channel. The open lake beyond is on the Lake Huron chart, with the Straits and Mackinac Island to the west.

  • 24.5 × 31 in
  • Solid Baltic birch frame
  • Acrylic glass front, ready to hang
  • Free next-business-day shipping on orders placed by 2 PM EST
  • 14-day returns
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