Though it is tip diameter that counts, and not the Butt or DBH - A 3' Butt should yield a number of FOHC sticks.

Always preferable, Free of Heart Center should be a spec'd requisite for any stick 5" or under in scantling.

Not having worked it as timber I can't answer Ponderosa question, though what I do know of it has me guessing it would be fine framing timber.

Also it would be a shame to saw such sawlogs into short sections - Find a sawyer with a long carriage or an extension and saw lengths as long as your frames width and length.

"We build too many walls and not enough bridges" - Isaac Newton

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