Lake Tahoe, California 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Lake Tahoe, California 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Lake Tahoe, California 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Lake Tahoe, California 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Lake Tahoe, California 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Lake Tahoe, California 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Lake Tahoe, California 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Lake Tahoe, California 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Lake Tahoe, California 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Lake Tahoe, California 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Lake Tahoe, California 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
Lake Tahoe, California 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall

Lake Tahoe, California 3D Wood Map | Laser-Cut Birch Topographic Chart

$ 149.00
Size
Frame
16 x 20 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.

Lake Tahoe in stacked Baltic birch: the great alpine lake carved one depth contour per layer, its full basin rendered from the beaches to the bottom of the deepest cold.

Tahoe sits at 6,225 feet, a mountain lake on an oceanic scale, straddling two states with 72 miles of shoreline and water so deep it never freezes over. Emerald Bay curls off the southwest corner around Fannette Island, the lake's only island, with the Vikingsholm castle tucked at the bay's head. Clarity is the local religion: on a good day the bottom stays visible some 70 feet down, and on the chart that transparency becomes structure, clean birch steps falling away fast from the shelf into the profound central basin.

Each contour is a separate laser-cut sheet, stacked by hand and engraved, with acrylic glass over the relief and a solid Baltic birch frame in Dark or Light.

Ski it, swim it, argue California side versus Nevada side: every version of Tahoe loyalty hangs comfortably under this chart.

The engraving spans South Lake and Emerald Bay, Tahoe City and the west shore, Kings Beach, Incline, and Sand Harbor down the Nevada side. The UV edition of this water, printed and touchable, is the Lake Tahoe UV map.

  • 13 × 17, 16 × 20, or 24.5 × 31 in
  • Solid Baltic birch frame in Dark or Light
  • Acrylic glass front, ready to hang
  • Free next-business-day shipping on orders placed by 2 PM EST
  • 14-day returns
View details