Sorry for not seeing this sooner. I haven’t gotten a hang of the best way to check if anyone replies to comments in Lemmy yet. Your post is the perfect starting wood. Basswood is soft and cheap so you can make cool things and practice pretty easily. I wouldn’t use a pairing knife though. Not to say you can’t but u might wreck that pairingknife. You can get cheap semi decent knives from companies like flexcut or morakniv and then move from there. My first couple knives specifically for wood were a whittlin jack (I think this is by flexcut) and a morakniv 120. Both about 40$ and still hold up great. The first knife I actually used was a Victorinox Swiss Army knife and was just something I had around the house. I think it was 20$. Not built for whittling but will work fine. Honestly use whatever your comfortable with. Once you get into it you will get a better idea of what you want in a knife and n apiece of wood. Happy to help with any advice if u need any. Not an expert but can give you any tips I’ve picked up since I’ve started.