Applications
Excelsior is used in packaging, cushioning, for stuffing plush toys or real animals in taxidermy, and for cooling pads in home evaporative cooler systems known as "swamp coolers." Excelsior pads are widely used in the shipping of day-old poultry in the United States when it is placed in the bottom of a cardboard box to cushion the birds while providing some warmth and absorbing waste.
Excelsior, dyed green, makes an annual appearance as the "grass" in Easter baskets, or did in earlier decades before the prevalence of plastics.
Traditionally used in stuffing Teddy bears, it is still used in stuffing the muzzles of some collectible bears.
Excelsior has other applications, such as mats and blankets for erosion control, garden mulch, dog bedding, hutch bedding, and udder cleaning for dairy cattle. It is also used for the production of cement-bonded wood wool boards.
Banded into bale form, excelsior is also used in archery backstops, comparable to how a straw bale would be used for the same purpose. If protected from the elements, an excelsior archery backstop can last for many years. If sections of it wear down because of repeated targeting, the bale can be soaked liberally since it then expands and holds water, just like a dry sponge.
Read more about this topic: Wood Wool