Softwood for Carving: Softest Woods by USDA Hardness

The best soft woods for carving are basswood, eastern white pine, sugar pine and the cedars, but only the pines and cedars are true softwoods. "Softwood" is a botanical label: wood from gymnosperms such as pines and spruces. "Hardwood" is wood from flowering trees. The two names do not track hardness. Wikipedia's example is balsa, a hardwood softer than most softwoods, while longleaf pine, Douglas-fir and yew are harder than several hardwoods.

That matters for carvers because the wood most carvers mean by "soft" is basswood, which is botanically a hardwood. So there are two useful lists: the softest woods of any kind, and the softest true softwoods. Both are below, with side hardness from the USDA Wood Handbook, which measures the force in pounds (lbf) to press a steel ball halfway into the wood. See hardwood vs softwood for the full explanation.

Side hardness at 12% moisture, USDA Wood Handbook Table 5-3b, with carving notes from BeaverCraft's carving-wood guide:

• Eastern white pine - 380 lbf. Soft, light colored, straight grained. See our eastern white pine page.
• Sugar pine - 380 lbf. The same hardness as eastern white pine.
• Western redcedar - 350 lbf. Lightweight, reddish and straight grained; its heartwood is also in the Handbook's resistant decay group, which makes it the softwood to choose for a carving that will live outdoors. See western red cedar.
• Northern white cedar - 320 lbf, the softest native softwood in the table, and also resistant to decay.
• Ponderosa pine - 460 lbf, a little firmer.

Wikipedia notes that one proposed root of the Halkomelem name for western redcedar may refer to the tree's ubiquity in carving and other woodwork.

If you only care about how easily the knife goes in, these flowering-tree woods belong on the list too (Handbook Table 5-3b, 12% moisture):

• Basswood - 410 lbf. BeaverCraft calls it the gold standard of soft carving wood for its fine, uniform texture; Wikipedia lists woodcarving among its uses and gives American linden as another common name. See basswood.
• Quaking aspen - 350 lbf. Pale with a uniform texture. See aspen.
• Eastern cottonwood - 430 lbf. Light and soft, straight grained.
• Butternut - 490 lbf. Medium density, light brown with straight, fine grain; Wikipedia calls it a favorite of woodcarvers. See butternut.
• Yellow-poplar - 540 lbf.
• Balsa - among the lightest and softest woods (BeaverCraft), too weak to hold detail; the Handbook gives no hardness figure for it.

Cherry (950 lbf), black walnut (1,010 lbf) and birch are carvable, but BeaverCraft notes they are not as soft as the others.

BeaverCraft's method is to soak the blank in water for several hours or overnight, which makes the wood more pliable and easier to carve.

The Handbook's numbers show why this works: wet wood is softer. Green (unseasoned) basswood measures 250 lbf against 410 lbf dry; eastern white pine 290 against 380; butternut 390 against 490. Carving green or freshly wetted wood takes noticeably less force. The trade-off is that wood shrinks as it dries, so a piece carved wet can check or change shape; let it dry slowly before finishing.

• It dents and wears. BeaverCraft notes soft woods are less durable and unsuitable for furniture or outdoor sculpture.
• Most soft species rot outdoors. The Handbook puts basswood, aspen, cottonwood, butternut, spruces and most pines in its slightly or nonresistant decay group. The exceptions are the cedars, whose heartwood is resistant.
• Fine detail needs fine texture. Very soft, coarse wood crushes instead of cutting cleanly; this is why basswood, with its even texture, beats softer balsa for detail.

Keep soft-wood carvings indoors, or carve outdoor pieces from cedar heartwood.

Basswood, aspen, cottonwood and white pine can all look like plain pale wood in a bin. WoodLens identifies a board or blank from a photo of the end grain or face, so you can confirm you are paying for basswood rather than a harder look-alike.