I have made my own oak staves by toasting them in my oven and man let me tell you it makes a lot of noise in there with all the crackling and makes the dang house smell way to good almost like a vanilla. I dont do it anymore cause I can get oak of any kind at my brew shop very cheap.
I make oak cubes because the shape is easy with my saw, Like Wade I toast them in Oven(tried toaster but it never popped up) I use retired wine barrel wood because I know the preserve commercial oak