The axe pattern doesn't really matter to me, like you say, no one will ever notice it anyway. I've just seemed to have more problems when I hew from butt to tip. You posted some pictures here recently. It looked like you were having problems with your hewn face getting splintery. It always seems that's what happens to me when I go butt to tip, I'm not sure why. And honestly, I've only went butt to tip on 3 or 4 logs, not enough to really test it. Maybe I wrote it off too fast. I really prefer hewing backwards, it seems easier to me. I don't like the finishing pass I make from tip to butt on that one side of the log. You asked whether I keep my cuts perpendicular or angled them, I cut straight down. I angle some at the very bottom, to help with the tear out problem I have there. But I'm pretty much cutting straight up and down. My tool marks show that the axe is tilted some as it strikes, with the toe of the blade hitting first, at least on tip to butt hewing. No, didn't write that correctly, at least as I BACK up and hew. When I'm hewing the other side, facing the butt, the heel of the blade is hitting first. But still, my blows are perpendicular to the log, starting at the top and going straight down. One last thing, I only pare right at the ends. The last 1/16" to the line. I hold my hand right up against the blade and shave that last little bit off to the line. The very ends of the logs are where I want to be precise. That's where the notch will be. The rest of the log, if I'm a little proud of the line, or a hair behind it, no one will ever know. On the sort of structures I'm making, the logs are a couple inches or more apart, with chinking in between them. Where the corners intersect, error is a lot more apparent. I want to thank you for the video link too, Don. The log you're hewing there looks a lot like the logs I'm working on. I don't imagine it's eastern white pine, though. But it sure would make a good cabin log. One last thing, it may be a few days before I get back on here. I'm sitting with my aunt, I think she's in her final decline. I hope she rallies, but that's selfishness on my part. She's lived a good long life, and she'll soon be in a lot better place. Instantly. That's the way it works.