okay,
so last night i reduced the stave to "final" width, with my drawknife, and handled some of the knots in a pretty aggressive manner: saw and chisel. I looked at Pat B's warbow and saw the giant knots in that, and it gave me courage.
Also, i realized that i was still in sapwood on one limb, it's just that it was a darker colour than the rest of the sapwood. So i chased it down some more. I tried to get just one ring, but i think the back's been violated more times than a southern belle with too many male relatives.
![Evil >:D](http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/Smileys/default/evil.gif)
![](http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/NomadArchery/yew%20holmegaard/Picture024.jpg)
![](http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/NomadArchery/yew%20holmegaard/Picture020.jpg)
This picture shows the stave's twist.
![](http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/NomadArchery/yew%20holmegaard/Picture017.jpg)
![](http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/NomadArchery/yew%20holmegaard/Picture015.jpg)
Overall, i LOVE working with this wood! I find that the admonition to leave extra wood at the knots is almost unnecessary, because it's impossible not to! The grain changes direction around a knot, so you are forced to turn the knife and come from the other side. The effect is a natural little mound of raised wood.
So, I just traded a stave for a dozen handmade arrows, painted and nocked...i think it's a good trade.
I'm looking forward to shooting this bow.
No way i'll be able to recurve this one: too much going on at the tips already. But i've drawn the approximate shape of the tips on the sides now...
![](http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/NomadArchery/yew%20holmegaard/Picture027.jpg)
![](http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk314/NomadArchery/yew%20holmegaard/Picture026.jpg)
Slightly different from each other, due to the placement of the knots, but still similar and i think they will look cool.
more to come