Rick,
Concerning your comment about ebony and holly together, I had a similar problem with the "silver" dots on the bloodwood in my post. I had noticed that there was not any smearing (dust) when using my home made chisel (almost a scrapper), similar to Peter's SKOGGER in shape. I took extra time on sharpening it to a razor edge and honed it well. There was no smearing, no bleed over and with the speed turned up to 3600, it was smooth enough for direct application of finish.
I have since made 2 more and they finished as well as the photos on the 30 Pieces of Silver post.
Your pens do look sharp and NICE. I like the Cross on a hill. By the way, how DID you clean the holly so well?