Thiecoc Basswood Carving Blocks Set - 8 Pcs, 10x5x5 cm, Whittling Wood Blocks for Carving

Updating my review.This wood is good quality and extremely well cut with no blemishes.The wood is tougher than I expected it to be from its out of the box state, I saw people doing it in videos with ease and wondered why. Through practice, patience and using alcohol sprayed onto this wood I managed to eventually get somewhere and I'm about 3/4 done with my first wood carving. The wood was MUCH easier to work with the more I carved off, and obviously as my technique improved. I also found pocket knives, even when sharpened on a whetstone to be completely garbage for carving as the bezel/blade width has to be as thin as a razor/stanley knife blade throughout or it wont go further than 1mm into the wood, and in the end I had to fork out about 25 coffee beans for a more serious carving tool set. At the start I was nearly ready to throw it in the bin and say it was impossible.From my experience it started off extremely difficult to carve, to the point where I had to use a hand junior saw to take significant chunks of wood away for the start, to then later being able to glide through it with a proper carving knife towards the end.I'm no expert on wood properties but (after some google) the initial hardness is likely to do with age, the way it was dried and/or moisture content. The fact this wood isn't native to the UK (limewood is, but I dont think its that) means that as a UK buyer I'd have to expect it to be not 'fresh' (and therefore harder/dryer). Spraying alcohol/ethanol on it really helped with the initial steps.So yeah, if you're looking to do carving and you're a beginner in the UK, just be wary that you might need a saw and/or to spray alcohol on this to get anywhere, plus a proper carving knife or it'll take forever. It might be worth considering starting with Balsa wood as a complete beginner since that's the softest wood going, however that doesn't hold an edge or detail very well

Look good to me and easy to carve-bargain

Good selection if a little hard to carve.

It is perfect for carving

Ordered as a few pieces of wood to start at the wood carving world... they are consistent in their appearance, lightweight and will be good for me to practice before I venture to something bigger or more difficult.

Basswood is probably the best choice for wood carving, as it’s not as hard on the fingers when cutting with your knives, ver good quality for money, and even though it’s Easter to use that other woods it very strong

Not the best basswood I've had, but it was comparatively cheap for the quantity of wood when I bought it. The pieces I received are cleanly cut, but variable in appearance - in both colour and grain. The one piece I have used so far carved relatively easily, but was very prone to splitting. Remains to be seen what the rest are like.

This is as hard as a stone, no matter how sharp knifes are this wood is extremely difficult to carve and had to stop because it would damage my equipment. Very bad quality