thanks everybody
brock, i don't find the knots too problematic, actually.  Yew works extremely fast with a rasp.  So you can take time with the knots, switch down to a finer file, get em done easy.  Also, i go through a fair amount of superglue, filling in cracks in the knots.  If there's a big knot on the very edge, with a hollow around it, i sometimes fill it with 5 minute epoxy.
I can see why yew has such a good reputation.  Wow.