As the majority of hedgerow oak trees are over-mature and due for felling, it might be worth considering their potential to supply this market. The wood should be air-dried to a moisture content of at most 23 percent before use. Table 17 shows the approximate price that wood would have to be sold for if it were to compete with other fuels. The figures quoted have been adjusted to 1987 wlues by assuming an average inflation rate of 5 percent for fuel prices. As Fuel Wood requires a much larger storage space than other forms of fuel.
Wood is labour-intensive to prepare and stack.
This would be sufficient to supply around 30 wood burning stoves for the next 20 years, which is roughly one stove for every farm in the area. After considering this, the prospect of selling the timber profitably becomes fairly remote. As with sawlog production the extraction problems caused by widely scattered trees must also be considered. Such a plan would lead to a more controlled production of both sawlogs and branch wood - which could be used as fuel. The profitability of fuelwood sales is still likely to be marginal despite this improvement.