Basswood Plaque Help

[WaltS]

I have never carved basswood and have two pieces to make a couple plaques for Christmas. Looking around online you get so many different answers to what type of wood it is let alone trying to find anything useful. So I ask the experts, where to start for feeds and speeds. I'll be using 1-8" and 1-4" end mills to 2D pocket the designs, not really much in the way of text. Thanks as always for your advice!!!

[dealguy11]

Basswood is soft and easy to cut. It is a nice wood to use for hand carving because it doesn't require a mallet - you can just cut it with a sharp knife or gouge and it cuts cleanly with hand tools. I've had some fuzzies cutting it with router tools, sort of like poplar. I can't suggest speeds and feeds for your machine, but I would machine it just as I would any other hardwood. My preference is to keep spindle speeds down (12k or so) and feed rates higher to minimize burning.