I would change from chips to cubes. IMO, much better characteristic and flavor from cubes. I had chips go from oak flavor, and aroma, greatness to vanilla in less than two months in bottles.
As for when to do the oaking... I would plan to do it about a month before you plan to bottle it up. Or, once it tastes otherwise ready for bottle, oak it and then bottle it when you have the flavors from the oak you wanted.
Personally, I like the oak flavor contribution by itself. I wouldn't soak it in anything since I'm looking to add OAK flavor to the brew. If I wanted to add pinot noir flavor, then I'd add some of that directly to the brew. Since it sounds like this is your first time using oak, I wouldn't complicate the flavor. You could easily lose the oak flavors you were thinking you'd get when soaking them.
I've had great success in simply sanitizing a jar (with lid), adding the amount of oak I intend to use, then boiling some water and just cover the cubes with the boiling hot water. Put the cover on the jar, and let it cool to room temp before pitching it all into the batch. You sanitize the oak, plus you don't lose any of the oak flavor/characteristics this way.
