Homoepitaxial growth on nearly on-axis 6H-SiC (0001) faces by horizontal cold-wall chemical vapor deposition (CVD) operating at 1500degreesC and atmospheric pressure has been re-investigated. It was found that homoepitaxial growth of 6H-SiC with a good surface morphology can be achieved with an off angle of 0.3degrees toward <01 (1) over bar0> for reasonable growth rates up to 3.5 mum/h, if the substrate is neatly prepared and if the growth procedure is properly selected. Investigations with atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed uniform surface step structures without macrostep bunching for the epilayers grown with a growth rate of 3.5 mum/h for more than 3 h. Detailed investigations with AFM suggested that two-dimensional nucleation of 3C-SiC may not occur even for 0.004degrees of off angle.