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I have a friend who is clearing a nineteenth century hotel grounds for redevelopment, I already snagged some Purple Heart, mahogany and various species that made up the only two remaining window frames after a fire took out most of the building in the mid 1980s, but he is now begining to fell what is best described as a small Forrest of very large trees. He's got an Alaskan mill and has told me that he would happily cut me some boards of the various types. Yew, beech, walnut and others like oak and holly (which I've never seen so big!) all in 2" boards more than guitar body in width and effectivly quarter sawn.

My question is, what's a ball park figure for time in drying it for example in my loft? Is it worth even getting from him in that raw state or am I barking up the wrong tree

Free lumber is never a bad idea, but you're probably looking at multiple years of drying in open air before it's stable enough to use.

If you can get a local mill to kiln dry it for you, then maybe usable in a few weeks or months. You can also make your own fairly easily. Totally doable--go for it.

And whatever you don't want, send to me

Ballpark is 1 inch per year.

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Pat

Sticker and weight the wood stack, and put it where there is good air flow all around it. Like Pat said, figure on 1" per year to get it down to +/- 10% MC.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker