I'm making some new boat locker covers from what may well be the world's most expensive plywood. It's a mahogany board and I've given teak trims to it, then five coats of traditional varnish. So far so good. Here's the problem - if I try to apply a finish coat, I always get some small flying...
I think your logs will be too short. If you get no luck you could try trimming it by hand axe to get it squared off. Then eat a good breakfast and get a big saw out. The French country people joke that 'wood heats you twice.'
You'll find a video giving a few clues by typing 'sussex medieval...