Portland, Oregon 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Portland, Oregon 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Portland, Oregon 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall

Portland, Oregon 3D Wood Map | Laser-Cut Birch Depth Chart

$ 262.00
13.5 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.

Portland in stacked Baltic birch, 13.5 by 31 inches: the river city carved one depth contour per layer, the Willamette threading downtown toward its meeting with the Columbia.

Portland is Bridgetown for honest reasons: a dozen spans cross the Willamette in the city alone, from the 1912 steel of the Hawthorne, the oldest operating vertical-lift bridge in the country, to Tilikum Crossing, built for everything except cars. The river carries dragon boats, rose-festival fleets, and working barges through the city's center, passes Ross Island's lagoon and Sauvie Island's farm shores, and joins the Columbia just downstream, where the region's water road runs to the sea. On the chart, the Willamette's engraved channel bends through the grid with each bridge in position, the city's spine in birch.

Each contour is a separate laser-cut sheet, stacked by hand and engraved, behind acrylic glass in a solid Baltic birch frame.

Bridge loyalty is a Portland personality trait. All candidates appear on this chart.

The engraving spans downtown and its bridges, Ross Island, Swan Island's basin, and the confluence reach toward Sauvie. The river's far end lives on the Columbia River Mouth chart.

  • 13.5 × 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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