david weaver
The sheet method you mention appears to be the way commercial pencils are made. Slabs are grooved, filled, glued and then cut apart and run through a shaper and a pencil comes out of the other side.

As far as size goes, I also prefer something slightly larger than typical, and my shop sharpener will accommodate, but most hand sharpeners and one-size electric sharpeners won't (unless they have a second hole which is usually much larger).

I'll eventually start making some other sizes, but the scratch tool that I made to cut the groove is set up fixed width (slightly oversize). the scratch tool is made from scrap and I can make another one in half an hour or so, so it's not a huge deal to make other ones. I was thinking that something larger than 2mm leads would be better, but they seem to be ideal for HB hardness, etc. I've noticed that some of the larger leads are around (3mm in some places) for 2b and 4b hardness - which would make for a nice dark-marking shop pencil.

It's fun, and something worth trying. I've never seen incense cedar for sale anywhere, and the use of the word incense on google or ebay brings up the smelly stuff instead of the aromatic wood.