Made at request of friends who commissioned as gift for a loved one. Almost complete. I may also offer for sale on my Etsy shop: design8studioshop.Etsy.com UPDATE: I did list this for sale on my Etsy shop: FREE SHIP US Custom Made Lavish Hexagon Gameboard Wooden - Etsy
They also commissioned a hand made wood container box for it.
Beautiful workmanship!
Woah! That’s pretty damn impressive!
I’ve seen a lot of these. They always interest me. This is the best looking one I can remember. Very nice work.
(I hope you don’t mind. I changed the title from Caton to Catan).
Thanks for catching my misspelling!
Stunning, that is such a high quality set.
The kerf width of the laser cutting beam is pretty much the perfect margin for proper tolerance on fitment. So I approach the design process with zero allowance, knowing that that kerf width will be involved.
looks great! what kind of paint did you use for the finish of just the surface?
I used a mixture of oil based Minwax wood stain in some areas, and acrylic artist paints, which are water-based, in other areas. My plan is to seal everything in with polyurethane. As much as possible, I try to avoid putting the acrylic onto a place where an oil based stain has already been applied.
Thanks everyone for the kind words!
That is just stunning. Makes me want to upgrade to a laser now! Absolutely amazing.
do you paint the wood first before burning the design?
For some I did, but in most cases I painted after, even if I had painted before. My laser has a slight misalignment on its beam, and I get a little bit of smoke, soot, and scorching on areas that were not in the cut path, and it requires a little bit of sanding and clean up afterward. So in some cases I wound up sanding off the paint that had been put on before the laser. In that instance, the paint kind of acted like a sacrifice layer.
I also have now submitted this game board for consideration in the 2023 Etsy Design Awards. Wish me luck! 
So, Etsy has qualified my shop as a Star Seller. Cool.
Also, here is a short video of the latest “made to order” Catan game board I’ve sold online:
I was able to obtain some boxes that can serve well as storage containers for these game board sets when not in use. I had some spare foam padding and cut it to fit.
That’s beautiful work. The aesthetic reminds me of that game ‘Don’t Starve’ - very desaturated coloring, I dig it.
I have a suggestion but only if you’re interested since you haven’t asked for feedback.
You could include something on the edge of the pieces to make it clear when they’re in the box what type each are.
Poly craft have a product called gun foam which is an expanding self skinning foam that is really good for making custom inserts for boxes, it’s easy to use and would give the box a wow factor .
From a use perspective, I can’t see needing to know which tile is which in the box. You take them all out to play.
