I've recently discovered that certain oily woods nered to be wiped down with a solvent like acetone if you are to have much luck in putting a CA finish on them. CA is my overall favorite finish so this was a helpful thing for me to learn.
Willow the pens look great, but you background seriously distracts from the pens, especially from the segmented one and the BLO it hides the grain, but the pens are great.