Woodcut Printmaking - Which wood is the best wood to use for woodcut prints? A beginner friendly guide

Alexandra Motiu
5 hours ago
7 min read

I have been a relief printmaker for the past 6 years, working primarily with linocut and wood engraving. I have written many blogs about linocut printmaking tools, and you can find my most recent blog here, which is the most comprehensive guide to all the tools you need.

I have recently started applying everything I learned in all these years to working with wood, and making more woodcut prints. The same general carving and printing tools are used as for linocut printmaking, but the surface you are carving is now wood.

There is a wide variety of wood you can use, so today I am going to take you through the best options, including a couple of tips and tricks for carving, cleaning, and preparing your blocks.

woodcut print with katsura wood by moatzart

What do my relief prints look like?

I always like to start by sharing my work with you, so you get a sense of what is possible. When it comes to my relief prints, I enjoy clean, graphic fine lines, and a lot of detail. I don't go so far as to almost scratch the plate, which means my lines are always clear, and I don't run into a lot of problems when I'm printing of detail not showing up.

When I started making woodblock prints, while I love being guided by the materials I work with, and working with wood definitely changed the direction of my prints already, I had the same expectations when it came to size and detail.

what are the best tips for making woodcut prints?

I thought I would include a few tips here that I found non negotiable while working, which also changed my experience with the different woods once I started taking them into account.

Have a separate toolset for woodcut prints. If you already have some Pfeil, Flexcut, or Japanese knives you use for linocut prints, either get them resharpened professionally, and keep a set separate for wood, or get new tools just for wood. Even if you regularly polish your tools, lino dulls them, so they don't work for wood anymore, and you will get very splintery cuts, wondering why wood doesn't hold detail.
Use a very fine, dry layer of Indian ink on the surface for contrast. When I started, I definitely soaked the block too much, which caused the wood to swell, and be splintery. Take off as much ink as possible from a dipped cloth on a piece of paper, and rub the surface when the ink is largely dry.
Keep your tools polished every 20 minutes of use. It is all the more important to use a Flexcut slipstrop and keep your tools polished as you carve, as wood is tougher than lino, and can be rough on your hands.
Clean your blocks gently, never with water. Take as much ink as possible off the plate by putting it through the press a couple of times with blank paper, or using a baren and pressing down more blank papers with your baren, even printer paper will do. Then, clean gently with a rag lightly dipped in Zest it printmaking orange cleaner (or similar), which won't penetrate the wood like water, but still try to refrain from soaking the wood as much as possible. I don't seal my wood blocks with shellac, as I like to see the grain when printing, but this is an option for preserving the block for longer.
Carve deeper than you are used to. For some reason, I find that all woods need a little extra clearing than lino, so carve what you are taking out a little deeper than usual, perhaps with some of the widest tools you have available, so you get less chatter on your block.

katsura wood blocks carved by relief printmaker moatzart

What are the best woods to use for making woodcut prints?

1) Shina plywood

Find it here: https://tidd.ly/3I5FBsm

Japanese Shina plywood is a soft wood that is easily carved, and has a beautiful grain when printed.

One thing to pay attention to is that it can be splintery, and carving it takes a little getting used to, to make sure those splinters don't turn into marks you didn't want on the block. I find that it is all the more important to start with outlines for this one, and to carve a little slower than usual until you get used to it.

While it cannot hold super fine detail like some of the upcoming woods I will talk about, I love using it for larger works, like A3 and A2, and you can still reliably carve with a 1mm tool, which is definitely enough detail at a larger scale (I just generally like to use an even finer tool for smaller prints).

2) Magnolia wood

Find it here: https://tidd.ly/4goORVM

Magnolia wood has become my favourite, and I only wish I could find it in larger sizes.

You definitely need to be the most careful not to soak the surface, and some blocks can still be a little more on the splintery side, reminiscent of shina plywood, but when you get a good block, and your tools are sharp, it can be as soft as lino, and holds lots of detail.

I found it the most pleasurable to carve, and it also has a lovely grain when printed.

3) Katsura wood

Find it here: https://tidd.ly/45DIBoc

Katsura wood is good for even more detail and graphic results. It prints really clearly, no matter the surface, and does not have as much of a grain when printing. It is the least splintery of all, and closer to cherry wood.

It is definitely important to carve deeply, especially when it comes to large zones that you are clearing, to reduce chatter.

I also bought a small japanese saw-knife (please make sure to use protective equipment if you use one, as there is a lot of saw dust when cutting wood), which allows me to cut the blocks into even smaller ones when needed.

4) solid Cherry timber wood

How to order it from a timber specialist: make sure that it is planed all round (PAR), flat and thicknessed, cut to your required dimensions, no finish, and ask them for their clearest stock if possible, 15 - 20 mm thick.

There are many timbers online where you can order your own blocks, and you can simply sand them further at home with a fine sander to prepare the surface for carving and printing.

I ordered some cherry myself, and while it is the priciest option (though it is double sided so you do get multiple surfaces), it is definitely the best wood to use for woodcut prints, the loveliest to carve. I am still saving the blocks I got, but I tested them out and they carve smoothly, and hold the smallest detail as expected.

As I make a lot of multi-block prints, I expect I will often use cherry wood for the key block (which has the most detail), and other woods for the layers of colour.

Conclusion:

Do not confuse woodcut with wood engraving (see below). That is a different technique, requiring different specialist wood and different engraving tools called burins. You may have seen my wood engravings, and I will write blogs about this technique as well in time, but just know that it is different, and possibly a bit tougher to get into. I definitely recommend starting with lino, trying out woodcut, and perhaps then moving on to wood engraving.

There are other woods woodcut printmakers use, I personally have heard about linden, and know many that use MDF. I have heard however that MDF can be the hardest on your tools, and they may need even more polishing and sharpening. So even though it is cheap, and doesn't have a grain so it should hold detail, I have decided not to use it. I'm also not sure of how well the block might last in time and through multiple printings, whereas most of the wood I have shared is sturdy, and will last through some 150+ prints, and the blocks will last over several years with proper care when printing.

I hope you find this article useful, and if you need more advice about tools, I have written many articles about each category of tools needed for relief printmaking (lino, wood engraving or woodcut). Check those out if you need help with choosing the perfect brayer, paper, carving tools, ink, or printing press/equipment for your work, and for finding extra printmaking tips at each stage of the process. All the blogs I have written about linocutting tools apply exactly to making woodcut prints as well, the only thing that changes, is the carving surface.

In general, do not be intimidated, as if you follow all my tips, and keep your tools polished regularly, it should be a pleasant and calm experience beginning to end.

I do believe all of these woods are also used for mokuhanga printing if you are curious about the technique, it is one I am planning to learn in the future, and hopefully I will be able to write about it.