Yew is wonderful for chairmaking, I have an early yew "Windsor" chair (with elm seat), this chair is around 200 years old and is beautiful. The only replacement is the steam bent top rail. I made the replacement a little thicker than the original (more than twenty years ago) as with so many holes in it for the various spindles it was too fragile. The one piece arm rest has now cracked where the top rail meets the arm rest, I will splice a piece of yew in to strengthen it but apart from that it is still in great shape.