Re: "hewed to"

David G. Durand wrote:

> This seemed completely ordinary to me, and less archaic and unusual
> than "cleave to" which I would never say, whereas I would use "hew
> to".
As I said, it sounded vaguely OK to me, too; I probably wouldn't use it,
however, neither in speech nor writing.
>
> A quick google search shows entries in Encarta as well as the American
> Heritage Dictionary.
A relatively new usage??
>
> I don't have the OED handy, but I don't think it's a new usage.
>
FWIW, not in my Shorter OED (3rd ed. "reprinted with corrections 1965")