Neil,
Thank you for a very erudite answer, much appreciated.
To answer a couple of your questions it was felled about 2 months back and has been stacked outside since in 3 - 4 foot logs, so in my humble opinion it's wet.
I was thinking about making some 8 inch (ish) x 2 inch blanks and microing them to dry. I may not bother after your reply, just need to get a patience injection it seems.
I'll have a think.
Thanks again for taking the time to reply as you did.
@ Paulm Point taken 