Some people have a huge surplus of oak, so there is definite uses. I had a few piles of 60K a while back, so it was nice to burn through it.
As for the quest, I would definitely suggest the footstools quest since there's fewer quests in the possible quest list, so you spend less time hunting for the correct quest, and more time actually performing the quest. If you know the "trick", you can guarantee the selection of the quest each time.
