Baltic Birch Plywood Block

Baltic Birch Plywood is widely used by artists for producing woodcuts and printing with oil or water based ink. The timber, grown in a cold climate, is dense and fine grained. Baltic Birch Plywood has layers of birch throughout the core and therefore has less voids than other plywoods. You may prefer to sand the surface with some fine paper before use, ensuring that you preserve the flat surface of the block and some artists coat the surface with a thin layer of shellac or polyurethane varnish prior to cutting, although this is not necessary. The wood can be brushed with a wire brush to emphasise the grain so that it will show through in the printing and be incorporated into your image.