Some modern artists use plywood. In this century, linoleum has been a frequent alternative to wood. The blocks are cut with straight knives or scooped ones called gouges. In recent years some artists have begun to use power tools. An important feature of the woodcut is its technical simplicity.
Wood is readily available and inexpensive.
Cutting a block does not necessarily require special tools or training, and though a press is generally used, it is not required. This simplicity has made the woodcut popular throughout the ages both with folk artists and with more sophisticated practitioners who value the direct involvement with the printing process that it makes possible. With a little comparative looking, woodcuts can easily be distinguished from other types of prints. The dark areas in an engraving or etching are really a fine network of many incised lines, whereas the dark areas in a woodcut may be a continuous, dark shape, printed from a solid area of wood. Sometimes the actual grain of the wood is visible in the print.