Hi,
Could you further explain the three notches please? I have a rough idea what they are but I'm not 100%. Or a picture of something similar would be great, thanks.

Jenkz

Surely.  The Three Notches were originally horizontal across the tree.  Some wikipedia searching should lead you down the right direction.  See these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Notch%27d_Road
http://www.virginiadot.org/VTRC/main/online_reports/pdf/76-r32.pdf  - see page 32/32 for a black and white photo

However, we would like an adaptation of these burnt-in lines.  Ideally, we would like to use vertical lines so that they can be used to run vertically down a tap handle.  They would start in our logo and then run down the length of a tap handle.  I also think it is important not to lead the design crowd too much because we are looking for creativity first. 

Does this sufficiently answer your question?

Thanks a lot, that helps :-)