Like Kevin says, the Basswood is tight grained and works well for chip carvings such as he has done. I too have used the Basswood but find Tupelo is a much tighter grained wood and accepts the wood burning we do on ducks much better. Almost all competition waterfowl carvers use Tupelo. No mater which wood you might choose it all comes down to the sharpness of your knife and chisels.