When I knew I was moving to Colorado, I bought a lot of exotic wood with me from our local supplier. This week I got out a nice piece of Blood Wood and cut it up for a project.  I had problems with my planer and had to clean and wax it.  I looked at the freshly cut wood closely and could see saw marks on it.  Some were ugly. Unusual. I was using a New Freud 40 tooth and it always cut smoothly.  I got out another new blade with 72 teeth to use, thinking I could get smoother cuts.  However, when I took the old blade off I noticed a dark red tar on the teeth. Some harder than other places. I worked at it until I had the blade clean. 

 That really puzzled me. Wood that I know for sure is at least 10 years old could leave tar like that on a blade. That wood has been exposed to very low humidity, sometimes lower than 10% and still retained that tar.  Maybe that is a characteristic of that wood. It sure altered my plans. 

Edited April 18, 20179 yr by Ron Altier
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I did some research on this wood and it can be nasty to allergies. No wonder mine have been acting up. I do use protection, but not each time and the dust can be stirred up too. It is a very hard wood, that would help to explain some of my sawing/planeing  problems. So for now the project is on hold until I can get things in place to do it with better dust protection and I'll use my respirator. However, i may also let more cutting and sanding go. I don't recover as fast as I used to. I may switch woods. Blood Wood did sound intriguing.

blood wood loads up and ruins the paper on our drum sander also. so fast that it's almost an immediate reaction.

 

It can be nasty. I have several boards here. I have used it in cutting boards but you have to be careful with the dust or it will turn the maple to a pink color.