PENCIL NOGGINS are carved faces on wooden pencils using slicing cuts with the tip end of a sharp knife.  Wooden pencils are normally made out of Western Cedar which tends to crumble when the knife blade is forced into the wood.  Thus it is necessary to make every cut a slicing cut.  Think of a slicing cut as when one slices bread off a loaf.  The cutting edge of a sharp knife is made up of little teeth very similar to the teeth on a hand saw.  A saw does its work when it is sliced through the wood. The most efficient cut with a knife is a slicing cut whereby the cutting edge is moving through the wood in a slicing action. Read the rest of this entry »