Hewing

In woodworking, hewing is the process of converting a log from its rounded natural form into lumber (timber) with more or less flat surfaces using primarily an axe.

Hew is a general term meaning to strike or blow with a tool such as an axe or sword; to chop or gash, and is used in warfare, stone and woodcutting, and coal and salt mining in this sense.

Hewing occurs from the bottom of the stem upwards towards what was the top of the standing tree, reducing the tendency of the broken fibers to migrate inwards towards the eventual beam.

However, physical evidence of looking at the marks left by the hewing tools in historic buildings, called tracology, are swung in an arc and thus made by an axe, not an adze.

Further smoothing can then be done using a hand plane, drawknife, yariganna (an ancient Japanese cutting tool) or any other established or improvised means.

[9] Although still used in niche modern building, salvaged hand-hewn beams are now commonly recycled as architectural details popular in new construction and renovation of homes.

A German carpenter (Zimmerer) hewing a log into a beam. Note the blue chalk line snapped on the log to which the hewer works.
In some medieval Scandinavian buildings a special method of hewing which produces a herringbone pattern on the timbers has been used (Swedish: Slinthuggning , Norwegian: Sprettejling ). This is a modern reconstruction in Stråsjö Chapel in Hälsingland , Sweden.
Stråsjö Chapel