Mike, I used a little hemlock in my frame and found it very hard to work. The trees I cut were tall, free of limbs for up about 40 feet, close grain, and had no shake. The logs laid at the sawmill 9 months before milling. I found it more difficult to cut tenons, and when paring across the grain found it to be stringy and difficult to obtain a smooth finish. This is only my opinion, I would rather work with hard woods or white pine before I would use hemlock for timbers again. I to am also interested to hear feedback from some of the other members. Good luck, John...