Hi DL,
It was hewing backwards down from the top of the log on LH spiral grain that did the damage.
You say to hew along the grain but this is spiral grain and as such when this method is followed e.g. during juggling the split runs in a spiral fashion and results in tear off of the aris.
The way that we used to overcome this problem was to hew in a forward direction up the log such that the grain on the lower part of the cut runs out away from the aris rather than hewing in a backward direction where the grain runs in causing a lost aris.
Regards
Ken Hume
