Difference in kit woods

[Dr PS - Paul Schulze]

 I’m sure this inquiry has been covered somewhere in a log or discussion entry. However a simple search for basswood yields over 3000 entries. The question is this, what is the difference between the basswood in, say, Model Shipway’s lasercut sheets and basswood sheets like you find at Hobby Lobby? The wood in the kit seems more amenable to carving and less likely to split than Hobby Lobby’s. 

Edited June 5, 2019 by Dr PS

[ccoyle]

As far as I know it's the same stuff. Difference in carving results might be based on differences in grain structure between billets going into production. I'm not much of a carver myself, but based on what I've read, if you're interested in getting better results, you might be better off replacing your basswood with pear or boxwood.

[mtaylor]

It might be age also.  Some hobby shops don't sell much and it sits in a warehouse or even in the store for quite awhile.   But, as Chris said, go with something harder, boxwood is the best but pear is also good.  

[Seahawk1313]

Cherry also works well- Hal