we had a dead tree taken down to the stump last year and now we have a chain saw artist doing beautiful work on it... but first he took all the bark off the tree in slabs of varying sizes usually about 1" thick... so "wood" on one side and bark on the other.. the tree is poplar... I love the slabs and don't want to throw them in the firepit. I gathered them up today and brought them home but now I'm wondering how to preserve them... I'm thinking of doing rustic letters on the bark side for cabins, maybe birdhouse roofs, cutting fish designs in them, etc... maybe even a rustic charcuterie board out of flat ones... nothing fancy like furniture... any ideas on how to work with the wood ? they have only been cut off the stump about a week.. should I soak in preservative then dry ? or use them since a little shrinkage etc probably won't hurt ... I need advice !! thanks in advance...