The Big Island, Hawaii 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
The Big Island, Hawaii 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
The Big Island, Hawaii 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
The Big Island, Hawaii 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
The Big Island, Hawaii 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall
The Big Island, Hawaii 3D layered wood map in laser-cut Baltic birch, shown framed against a light wall

The Big Island, Hawaii 3D Wood Map | Laser-Cut Birch Nautical Chart

$ 169.00
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.

The Big Island in stacked Baltic birch, 16 by 20 inches: the newest land on Earth carved one depth contour per layer, still under construction by Kilauea as you read this.

The Big Island is geology live: Kilauea's eruptions have repeatedly sent lava to the sea in living memory, adding fresh acreage in clouds of steam, while Mauna Kea rises so far off the ocean floor that measured base to summit it stands taller than Everest. The Kona coast's calm leeward water hosts the manta rays' famous night ballet for snorkelers holding light boards, and Kealakekua Bay keeps its deep, clear marine sanctuary where Cook's monument marks the shoreline. On the chart, the island's volcanic slopes continue seamlessly underwater, engraved slopes plunging to abyssal depths a startling distance from shore.

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

An island still being made, rendered in a medium that is also made in layers.

The engraving spans Kona and Kealakekua, Hilo's bay, South Point, and the volcanic coasts between. The full chain runs on the Hawaiian Islands chart.

  • 16 × 20 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