The wood takes a smooth finish. An easy wood to work with using hand or power tools. Cricket bats and artificial limbs are made from this wood. Suitable for timbering where a lot of hand cutting of joinery work is used. There are fine brown streaks in the wood from the grain pattern.
Yew works very well with hand and power tools.
The wood can be worked to a highly polished lustrous surface. The durability of the wood is very high and resistant to insect and fungal attack. There are chairs made of Yew in the Hornby castle dating back to 1550. The Yew tree is small, maybe 20 feet, with a short trunk of 8 to 12 inch diameter, so the lumber is rare and available only in small pieces. Because the grain and texture is so fine, the wood can be carved or turned into the most delicate fittings.