You seem to be working with the log at a fair height, I always worked close to the ground, maybe 6" high, the height of the sleepers the log laid upon, and they were bedded into the ground about 1/3 of their height, so in other words very close
I always scored on the final pass, (lightly) every 4" +-, trying to not penetrate into the finished surface too deeply. This aided with the hewing on the final pass, and pretty well eliminated any problem with grain tearing etc.
Any historic timbers that I have photographed and examined also show the telltale signs of the scoring on the final pass, usually the bit of the axe being slightly rounded on its centre would remain
