Home page Blog How Wood Wool Firelighters Are Produced — The Process from Raw Material to Finished Product

Wool firelighters are an eco-friendly alternative to chemical fire starters. They ignite easily and maintain sufficient temperature and burn time to light solid wood, briquettes, pellets, and other types of fuel. Wool firelighters are most commonly used for fireplaces, wood stoves, and barbecues. However, they can also be useful for solid fuel heating boilers and other professional equipment that operates with fire.

To make wood wool efficient and convenient, it is manufactured using special technology. Below, we explain the process in detail.

Wood Firelighters Production Process — From Raw Materials to Packaging

The production process of eco wood firelighters consists of the following stages:

1. Shredding. Logs are fed into a shredder, where they are cut by dozens of thin, sharp blades.
2. Curling. The shavings are dried at high temperatures. This accelerates the process and causes them to curl, forming the characteristic wood wool.
3. Wax and resin coating. At this stage, it is crucial to control the thickness of the coating, as there must be enough space between the shavings to sustain combustion. In industrial-scale production, a tumbling method is used. Shavings are dropped from a certain height into a vat of wax and resins, creating splashes that help evenly coat the wood.
4. Forming. Wax-covered shavings are rolled into small bundles or coils. Their density affects burn time and temperature. The denser the bundle, the cooler the flame, but the longer it will burn.
5. Drying. The finished wool firestarters are dried again to harden the coating. Then, they are cooled to prevent the wax from melting.
6. Quality control and packaging. Employees select several firelighters from each batch to assess their quality and conduct tests if necessary. Products are then packaged with information on usage, safety precautions, and compliance with current environmental standards.

What Are Wood Fire Firelighters Made of and How Does This Affect Their Quality?

Pine or spruce shavings are the best material for producing woodwool firestarters. These types of wood contain a high amount of natural resins and wax, which facilitate ignition and ensure stable combustion over an extended period. Alternatives from locally available wood species, such as maple, oak, or beech, can also be used in manufacturing, but they require more thorough processing and stricter quality control.

Natural raw materials have advantages and drawbacks. The same unique properties that make wood a premium finishing material can also be a disadvantage here. The amount of resins and wax in different batches can vary significantly. Therefore, to maintain controlled combustion, the shavings may be supplemented with:

1. Paraffin wax — affordable, widely available, and highly flammable.
2. Organic wax (beeswax or soy wax) — the optimal choice for eco firelighters. It burns entirely without producing toxic fumes, decomposes naturally, and does not pollute the environment.
3. Natural plant-based resins — accelerate the combustion process, increase temperature, and facilitate ignition.

If you are looking for wood wool for sale, you should also consider the intended use of this material. For lighting barbecues or campfires for cooking, organic firelighters that do not contain synthetic components would be the best choice. They don’t release toxic fumes and don’t affect food quality. However, when it comes to firelighters for boilers and industrial equipment, the requirements are lower — they may contain paraffin and synthetic resins.