You are right about green wood ... in my opinion practicing on green wood is the best way to get the feel of tool control. It's a great confidence builder and any catches will be mild.
Actually, HF tools will cut just as well as other tools for a shorter length of time before they need to be sharpened. It's hard to tell from looking at the video, but I think that the cutting edge needs to be touched up a bit based on the appearance of the shavings. Also, be sure to anchor the tool on the rest before lowering the cutting edge. Approach the wood with the cutting edge high and then lower it to get the bevel rubbing and finally raise the handle a bit more to get shavings. When the tool is cutting at the ideal orientation only a tiny part of the bevel behind the cutting edge will be contacting the wood to support the cut. If the handle is raised any further the tool will lose bevel contact and then the edge will be scraping instead of cutting.
In addition to practicing doing things right, don't be afraid of seeing what causes things to go wrong.