Started on a Stave

A while back my mate Rob gave me a roughed out bow that someone had given to him, it's Italian

Yew rather knotty and been roughed out. The original owner probably realised he didn't know what to do with it next. I can see why, as it's been roughed out a bit thin and narrow at one tip and it has a fair bit of twist and is knotty. Rob thought I'd know how to make it into a bow :-) ... I quite like this sort of task as I haven't had to source the wood or agonise about marking it out etc... it is what it is, and my task is to tease it into shape. What appears to be too thin is probably fine, it's just that in proportion the rest of the stave is too thick! The twist is more problematic, but it's a matter of compromise allowing a bit of twist in each direction distributed along the bow. Failing that, steam will take it out. Rob has also made me a couple of arrows with medieval style forged heads... V nice... the big swallow tail head is prob best kept for demo rather than use! I've made him a peak hold needle assembly for his tillering scale, which can be fitted next time he's over.
After some preliminary work I've taken 1 1/4"off one end and 1 1/2 " off t'other, which gives a tiny bit more width at the tips and moves the thin area closer to the tip too.
I've been taking videos of the progress and may cut it all into one video (speeded up in parts) once it's done. My other videos don't really give an idea of the flow of the progress, so it should be fun to do a sort of time lapse vid.
I'm not really sure what I want from this bow, I don't think it's prime warbow or flight bow material, so maybe a bow for me, maybe 80-90 at 29-30" I'll wait until I have a better feel for the wood.
Anyhow... watch this space.

Meanwhile my mate JT came over and gave me hand running that big Walnut log through the bandsaw. It was a bit of a struggle as the wood was V wet. He's got a laminated stave that he bought from Heritage Longbows (glued up with a tapered core and about 2 3/4" of reflex..see pic) to try out, he tapered the tips on the bandsaw, stuck on temporary nocks and we gave it a quick try on the tiller to see how it flexed.
Video here:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-bHCMZoinM&t=4s