Hello Steve. I am interested in wood block printing. Here is a link to an Aspire video on woodblock printing: https://release.vectric.com/artwork-print-block/
I actually took a semester class in print making at our local community college. In that class, we used MDF as the wood block. It carves well and holds detail, since you don't need to carve very deeply.
I had a wood cut I wanted to make with lots of detail, more than I thought MDF could handle. So I tried using vinyl composite floor tile, and I used a v-bit, so I could get lots of fine detail. But all the fine lines would plug up, and the only way to clean them out required huge amounts of hand work to clean out the lines with an Exacto knife.
Mostly, as I had been spoiled by using a big press at school, I just couldn't get into making prints at home using a spoon to transfer the ink to the paper. IF I were more ambitious and focused, I would have figured a way to use the bed of my shopbot for a printing press...……. Chuck
Chuck Keysor (circa 1956)
PRT Alpha 60" x 144" (circa 2004)
Columbo 5HP spindle
Aspire 9.0, Rhino 5