Hello everyone here at PA!
I've been a lurker for a while now on these forums, and finally got a reason to post something. I'm in Denmark, and have only buildt one bow before, an english longbow that still shoots after 4 years, bow turned out too light (~27#) and took quite a lot of set, due to some tillering mistakes (learned lot though).
Now I'm trying out a Møllegabet type bow, which I thought was appropriate as a Dane. The stave is (I think) european yew, which i bargained for with a groundskeeper in a famous danish cemetary in Copenhagen (where Hans Christian Andersen and Søren Kierkegaard are buried, among others). As you can see below, it is not very ring dense and has rather light colored heartwood, but I wanted to give it a shot because of it's history, while some elm i harvested this spring dries.
Stave: 
I've got it profiled down (left the tips wide for string alignment correction), and reduced to around 1 inch thickness measured from the quite high crown (I'm a little paranoid about it turning out too light this time). It's 65 inches ttt and 2 inches wide at the fades, fading to about 1.5 inch at the lever fades. Top limb (away from me in the images) is 0.5 inches longer. The handle section is 7.5 inch including fades. With ~15 inches of working limb, 1.5 inches of lever fades and 11 inch levers. I kept the levers a little on the short side because of all the knots. Target weight ~50#, though I wouldn't get upset If it ended up at 45#.
I'm getting a little worried with the knots in this piece; there not that large, but several are quite punky, and they're in bad places, close to the edges and in the working part of the limbs, so I'm basically seeking advice on how to deal with these. Also, anyone (Mr Cat?) have experience with european yew of this sort? Am I wasting my time here?
Here's some closeups of the problem areas:
This is probably the one 'm least worried about. It
looks like it won't be in the finished limb, but am I screwed if a corner of it remains in the belly edge in the end?
Knot#1: 
The top one here is the same as above, however it is in the middle of the working part of the limb, and will definitely end up on the belly edge, unless I reduce thickness a lot. The bottom knot is rather small and not as punky as the others, but goes right through the limb. I left some sapwood on the top of the knots, when I reduced it from ~1/2 inch to around 1/4 inch.
Knot#2+3: 
These are my main concern. Twin knots going from belly to side, right out of the fade in the working limb..
Knot#4+5: 
Thank you for any advice you might be able to contribute, I hope I'll have much more to show in the future, and thank all of you for all the help and inspiration you've already unwittingly provided me!!
Nicolas
