Shame when such a pretty piece of Yew goes bang.
Just to clarify my philosophy with knots, IMO It's the
belly that needs plugging as the thin black ring you often see round a knot has no compression strength and can allow the belly to buckle or pinch. On the back I try to leave the undisturbed, with a little extra width (which is what you did
), the hole in the middle is ok, 'cos a hole is probably as strong in tension as a glued plug!
If a knot is simply too bad or has dodgy sapwood or no sapwood, I will rasp out a long shallow scoop and patch over with clean sapwood.
Mind I still get my share of blow ups!
Del