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Just finished carving the braces on my back: Spanish Cedar. While planing and chiseling, it produced gritty stuff. After every few strokes of the plane I would feel the surface of the wood, and it felt like sandpaper. On closer inspection, every pore is packed with this stuff. I feel like it is dulling my tools. Does anyone know what this is...pollen maybe?

it wouldn't be pollen, that's produced on the outside of the tree. Probably silica from the soil the trees were growing in. It will dull your tools especially if there's enough that you're noticing grit. I don't think it's species specific as much as it's specific to the area where the tree grew, so it may not be typical of spanish cedar as a species. I know I've found high silica levels in teak before, and bamboo usually has a lot too.

correct. trees suck up many things in the forest. i have some mahogany that has visible rocks in it. black, crunchy, rocks. when you look at this wood at the end grain with a microscope you can see the "tubes" of the wood clogged up with this stuff. weird.