Thanks John! The comments are very insightful; particularly from one fuzzy photo! Coincidentally, I have plans for the tree that you mentioned:
1. I hate that bar-branching look, and the left branch is a back branch that will come off...it's pretty glaring in that photo, isn't it?
2. It is trunk-chopped at the top, and the goofy-looking apex branch is wired up to grow all year to smooth the transition and increase the size of the new apex section.
3. You can't see it in the photo, but some branches are pulled around to hide the chop.
4. New Pot, just got one for Christmas, a beautiful glazed blue Tokoname; rectangle with indented corners and feet, which is more ornate and appropriate than the pot it's in now (which is the pot it arrived in).
5. Thanks for the tip on carving and re-wounding the scars. I am doing this with a J. Beech and it's working...and I believe in cut past too! It almost never fails that trees won't close wounds over rotting wood. Didn't know if there is a species-specific tip for the KH.