Wood Wood Wood

So here we go. 
In order to make decent prints, I need many tools, skills and materials before I even start. Well, that isn't exactly true. I can get on with making prints with the basic equipment that I have and they will come out fine and I will still be learning. But in order to do things "properly" and the traditional way (which I am trying to do) to have blocks which last, which won't warp and distort when I come back to do a re-print, I need good wood. 

If anyone saw my Instagram post about some Magnolia and Katsura blocks I received recently from an art supplier I wasn't too happy about... well it lead me down a long route of learning about wood. Cherry wood is the best, but what are my alternatives? What has a similar grain, hardness, hold to the pigments I use? Boy, there is lots to learn. So once I have picked my wood, where do I buy it from? I can speak to saw mills directly, and most supply in standard thickness - 19mm is generally the thinnest whilst being planed on all sides, but I could get a 3.3 or 5.5mm which isn't (?) planed. 5 or 6 mm is what I am looking for as a piece of Birch Ply will be sandwiched between two of them (to help with the warping).

So if I were to buy the thicker thickness and then cut it into thinner bits myself I need access to a bandsaw, I need, a workshop with clamps, a workbench, glue and time for the planks to set... Well there is a place in Edinburgh which offers this! Amazing - The Edinburgh Tool library, however their workshop dates are already booked up for the start of Feb so if I want to start making these blocks soon, I need to get things going! 
Order the right wood, get my Tool Library Membership, induction, sign up to an available open workshop slot, get my glue ready and get goin! Oh and higher a car (or the bike trailer) to transport this uncut wood around from home to workshop and back. Oh geez, so many moving parts to organise, and if I don't time just slips and I will be pushing valuable learning time on the carving bench farther and father away. 

As a note to my forgetful self - Traditionally Mountain Cherry Wood was used for Blocks- why? Because the growth rate was slower up in the mountains so that meant the grain is closer together than those which grew faster in summer. This makes it easier on the carver as they glide their knife through the seasons. The hardness of the winter months doesn't cause a shock when they come in to the ease of the summer month and then back into winter again, they don't have to keep adjusting their strength. Mountain Cherry may have a hardness of around 995lbs (although I am not 100% sure of this figure), it also holds onto detail well.

So I have I read, Cherry holds onto the pigment well, as Yoshida states "it has power to retain a part of the pigment after printing. By the time about ten sheets have been printed, the block absorbs and retains some of the pigment which cannot be wiped ... gives a desirable tone to the print." - what is the property within the Cherry Wood which enables this? How can I look for it in other woods? Cherry wood is also less brittle than other woods. The blocks will be wet and dried over and over, so it has to stand up to this level of moisture change. However when stored it needs to be in a temperature stable environment - one which holds a certain level of dampness. Oh also - the planks of wood from the Edo period would have been air dried - a years long (almost a decade) process, and these days I don't know if that is even possible to find. Does it really change the wood properties that much if it has been kiln dried? From what I can find online the planks are dried to a 9-11% moisture content. 

This are all my wood thoughts at the moment. I mean, there are more but I won't shave them all off here in this post. Hope you're having a nice start to your week, I'll be back again soon with some more thoughts.