Seasoned wood can be a bugger to work, but I find the slower carving allows for a better finished article. Particularly with spoons, bowls and stuff, the fully seasoned plumb spoons I have made are great and 'over carving' didn't happen. Working with the fresh hazel was refreshingly easy, and as I almost never take from living trees to use them fresh I felt like it would have been easy to over carve. By over carving I mean the wood being soft enough for you to accidentally take away too much, something that I have don't in the past that induced a fair ammount of rage!