I just put a piece of driftwood in my new tank.
What I did is boil the wood in the biggest pot I had for about an hour and a half. If yours fits in the pot that's great, but mine was too big so I turned it in the pot about every 30 minutes and ladled the boiling water over it almost the entire time. After that I let it soak in a cooler of water for about a week. Some people soak them longer, but I think that's mainly to waterlog it. Mine was already too big and heavy to float so a week was enough.