Finger Lakes, New York 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Finger Lakes, New York 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Finger Lakes, New York 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Finger Lakes, New York 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Finger Lakes, New York 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Finger Lakes, New York 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall

Finger Lakes, New York 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.

The Finger Lakes in laser-cut Baltic birch, 13.5 by 31 inches: all eleven glacial lakes on one chart, the long parallel gouges that define central New York, each carved with its own stack of depth layers.

The Ice Age dragged its fingers south through here and left eleven lakes lying side by side like no other place on the continent. Seneca and Cayuga anchor the middle, both among the deepest lakes in America; Keuka forks into its odd Y; Skaneateles gleams famously clear at the eastern end; and Canandaigua, Owasco, and the rest fill out the hand. Between them run the hills of one of the country's great wine regions, vines hanging above deep water that tempers every winter. On the chart, the family resemblance and the differences both show: eleven parallel basins, each stepping down to its own depth in the birch.

Contours are laser-cut sheet by sheet, stacked by hand, engraved, and finished behind acrylic glass in a solid Baltic birch frame.

Everyone from this region has their lake, and marrying across lakes is technically permitted. The full family portrait hangs here.

The engraving spans all eleven, with the cities at their feet: Geneva, Ithaca, Watkins Glen, Skaneateles, Canandaigua. Individual charts go deeper: Seneca, Skaneateles, and Canandaigua.

  • 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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