thanks guys for your input. Average diameter is about 18 inches so they are not massive logs but big enough to make me want to frame with them if at all possible. I just find it so amazing that I can fell a pine that died ten years ago and looks completely horrible and rotten, but have this beautiful heartwood within . Even some logs that have long since already been felled and rotting on the earth, I have taken a hack into for curiosity sake and found such preservation in its fibers. I have heard of guys wandering in to woods and finding trees that have fallen many years and used them to frame with. Anyway at the very least it seems there are some people out there that find it perfectly ok to use them for siding ang boarding, even with the imperfections(bug damage).By the way Raphael , I am curious as to the product you have chosen to stain with and your technique for "dipping" the boards?? Thanks again Mark and Raphael. It is always a pleasure to hear your input on these matters. I have learned a lot from both of you in the past year or so. tb