new stamp carving material

For many months (has it been a year, even?) my favorite stamp carving material, PZ Kut (AKA "The Orange Stuff") has been unavailable. I have long ago used up the last little bits of the sheet a friend so generously gave me (before she knew that she'd never be able to get it again, I'm sure!). But my husband has come to the rescue, finding a new stuff that comes fairly cheap and appears to be a good alternative. I shall call it "The Black Stuff." However, I'm not sure if it's a great alternative at this time. For starters, it's difficult to transfer an image, it being black and all. Pencil marks do show up, but it's not that crisp, decisive line that you're used to seeing. Additionally, it appears to be too squishy inside. Now, this beats CRUMBLY any day of the week (and I have mountains of crumbly carving material that I ought to just throw away). I'm not sure if this may just be because my knife is dull. I hope to change out my knife as soon as I get to town for more blades so I can keep you posted on that. But yeah, at this point, it seems to be too squishy inside to work for knife carving.
On the other hand, using the special "V" shaped carving tools, and not carving too deep, I found it to hold a great deal more detail than some other materials I have used and think that it is a sufficient replacement for the orange stuff ... for now. The price is right and it works okay. I do not think that it's a perfect replacement, and still yearn for the awesome texture of PZ Kut.