Carving water, one lake at a time

Tory Kaupang carves water.

The 30-year-old North Branch man makes three-dimensional images of lakes from wood, showing not only a lake's shape, but its depths too.

On some carvings, he adds blue "water" from a resin that darkens the deep spots of a lake. On others, he's covered the plaque with faux birch bark, giving it a rustic look.

It's a lake map and a work of art rolled into one.

"I've been playing around in my workshop trying to come up with something unique, and I kind of stumbled onto this," said Kaupang, who has been carving lakes for five years. "It started out as a hobby, and now I'm trying to make it a full-time business. We'll see where it takes me."

Kaupang is among hundreds of purveyors who will be displaying their wares, from docks and fishing gear to RVs and dog equipment, at the Northwest Sportshow, which opens Wednesday in downtown Minneapolis. Until now, he's displayed his work mostly at art shows. He's already carved most of the major lakes in the state, including Superior, Vermilion, Mille Lacs, Gull, the Whitefish Chain, Big Sandy and Rainy.

He would seem to have a steady supply of customers, considering the number of people in Minnesota and Wisconsin who own lakeshore property or cherish a fishing lake.

"The typical person has a home or cabin up north," Kaupang said, but he's also sold some to resorts. He'll add the location of a home or cabin to a lake, but prefers not to clutter them with lake depth figures, towns, roads or other type.

"That distracts from them being a piece of art," he said. "Otherwise, it's just a map on a wall."

Trial and error

He's not the only one making carved lake maps. A fellow in Two Harbors has been producing similar maps for years. And Kaupang said others have crafted wood maps by cutting out pieces of wood with a laser, then gluing them together to create the lake topography.

"I'm having fun coming up with unique finishes and different looks to set them apart," he said.

He started out tracing the contour lines of a lake on a piece of wood, mostly oak, and then creating the depths by hand, with a router.

"That worked well, but took a long time," he said. "Now I'm doing most of it with a computerized router, so I can focus on the finishing work."

He downloads a lake map into his computer, and the router machine-carves the basic shape and depth of the lake. Kaupang then uses a hand router to add other details, like streams. He custom-makes the maps, using faux birch bark on the fronts of some, plain wood finishes on others. If the buyer wants, he adds transparent blue "water" to the lake, then finishes the final product with lacquer.

The price of each varies, depending on the complexity of the lake and the types of finish, but generally ranges from $200 to $500. It can take six to eight hours or more to complete one map. Recently, Kaupang has broadened his work, adding landscapes such as Isle Royale in Lake Superior, as well as ocean bays. And he's begun incorporating his carvings into tables.

An artistic family

Kaupang comes from an artistic background. He grew up in Stacy and lives in North Branch with his family, where he carves in a garage workshop. His dad was a college art professor and wood carver and his mother is a free-lance artist. Kaupang has a construction background.

"I've always enjoyed playing with woodworking tools," he said.

Now he'll see if he can carve himself a different future in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Doug Smith • dsmith@startribune.com