First yew. Bending thick branch using hot water. Result.

So, back to the yew and the bending of the remains of the original trunk.   In summary,  I have tested two methods of bending thick branches_dead wood.  

1.  Method cut and close 

2.  Hot water to soften the wood to make it less resistant to bending

(see the previous article for details )

After the bending and bit of carving

Top jin_before the bending

After. Detail

As a hobby joiner I have always thought about bending thick branches using heat as this is very old technique used in joinery for centuries.   Well, I should rather say using hot steam than just heat.   In practice, I have simplified the thing even further and instead of using the hot steam I have used a boiling water.  After this treatment I felt that the wood is "softer" and I was able to bend it.  

Definitely much less than I have hoped, though.    I think that the hot steam would work much better nevertheless I would need quite different set up for this.  

Taking into account the amount of time I have spent on this exercise I believe that making a few cuts on the right spots of the jin and fixing it in the new position with glue is much easier.  Not so fancy,  but I can live with that.   At least for the time being...