Cabinetry Sheet Goods - Am I Nuts or What?

[John Hollaway]

Recently I constructed some paint-grade, face frame style base and wall cabinets for my daughter's jewelry studio. Because of the high cost of birch ply, and because Dad was paying for materials, I elected to use 3/4 inch OSB for all partitions, bottoms, shelves and ends. The end panels I veneered with 1/4 inch MDF on the outside for a good painting surface. For finishing the OSB I R/O-sanded well and then applied two coats of clear poly. Assembly was mostly with pocket screws and a few biscuits here and there. I was amazed how nice the OSB was to work with, how exceptional the innerds looked with the poly, and how cheap they were to build with the 3/4 OSB selling for about $11.50 per sheet. SO HERE'S MY QUESTION. Have any of you constructed cabinets for customers, perhaps for garages, basements or even kitchens, using OSB??? For those of you who have not, and given the economy is what it is, I would also like to hear your thoughts on the matter. Thanks.

John Hollaway

[Carl Beckett]

Hi John,

I like this question and will follow it (always interested in lower cost methods for shop cabinets.....)

Any chance you have some pictures?

[John Hollaway]

Not at present, Carl, but I'll try to snap a few next time I'm at her home.

John

[Von Bickley]

OSB has it's place in the "Framing World", but I have no plans for building cabinets with it.

MDF - I don't use it.......

[Pat Barry]

I used leftover pieces for some workshop cabinets - nothing fancy but I was happy with the result there.

[Jamie Buxton]

OSB is inexpensive, but the surface is really rough. It also is intended for building houses, so nobody is concerned about whether it is flat. Flat sheet goods are easier to make cabinet boxes from. If you want inexpensive, MDF is probably a better way to go. It is smooth, and can be flat if the retailer has stored it properly. 3/4" generally retails for $20 or so. And for only five bucks more, you can get melamine-covered MDF. That is, a great deal of your finishing is already done for you.

[johnny means]

First of all, John, this thread sucks without pictures.

I also like to use OSB because of the price. Though I limit it to shop fixtures, substuctures and ,sometimes, bunkie boards. It's usually pretty flat and stiff and has good mass for a solid feel. My main concern with it is that the chips it is composed of are not bonded together very well. Often, a coat of paint will cause individual chips to separate from the panel or bubble up. I would never use it for a finished surface because the time it would take to sand one sheet would probably pay for a couple of sheets of BB.

[Phil Thien]

I tried using OSB to make a cabinet but the panel I purchased was bowed. I don't have a lot of experience with OSB but the piece I had seem to have a shiny surface on one side only. I theorize that whatever they put on that side caused a moisture imbalance that caused it to bow.

Had it not bowed I would have quite like to use it. The price was right. I originally used it because I thought it would be stable. I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

[Jamie Buxton]

I've been told that one face of OSB is deliberately rough so that it can be faced up on a roof, to give builders less chance of slipping.

[Glen Butler]

I've been told that one face of OSB is deliberately rough so that it can be faced up on a roof, to give builders less chance of slipping.

You are right, that is the reason. When someone puts a sheet the wrong way we call it suicide up (smooth side up). However, 3/4" osb is usually smoother and denser than the 1/2" variety. This is likely because it is used as flooring and must support higher loads. There is even a 1/2" variety that cannot be used on roofs, but walls only, likely because its "grain" orientation and possibly even its' density won't allow it.

Like everyone else I would love to see some pictures to see how the OSB turned out, but it seems that the labor that would be required to get OSB looking good, might be better spent picking up some extra work to pay for the melamine. Finishes are not cheap and obviously must be factored into the cost. I am all for cheap construction methods. In fact, the desk I am sitting at is lacquered particle board edged with white pine built 10 years ago while in college. It works so I haven't bothered replacing it. I doubt I would ever use OSB, though. There is a limit to the cheapness.

[Peter Quinn]

Have I made cabinets for customers with OSB? First I should applaud your resourcefulness and the wonderful thing you have done for your daughter. But no, I have never even considered using OSB on a cabinet project for money. Given it's texture, surface quality, propensity to swell if it gets wet, just not feasible. On most custom jobs charging shop rate the plywood is not actually the greatest part of the cost, the labor is far more valuable. So if they are going to pay me to do it, and I am going to bother to put a finish on it, I'm going to start with cabinet grade material. For shop cabs, I'll use almost anything I van find, and the cabs I inherited with the house I bought in the garage are made with OSB! No finish, just screwed together. They look terrible as no attempt was made otherwise, but they do hold my stuff.

[Jerome Hanby]

I've only used it for floors (tongue and groove variety). What I had seemed very sturdy and I don't recall any voids. It was straight and prety flat. But the surface was pretty rough on both sides. Not sure how much it would smooth out. Might be interesting to run a piece of it through a drum sander and see how well it smooths out. Can't imagine trying to do that with a hand held sander...

[Jim Becker]

In addition to the "rough" nature of this product, I have not found it to be particularly consistent in thickness nor very stable relative to the needs of cabinetry or furniture. I would surly use "import" plywood for interior parts for economy before I'd use OSB. Or I'd use MDF...heavy stuff, but absolutely stable unless it sits in a puddle. It veneers beautifully, too.

I build most cabinetry carcasses with 1/2" veneer plywood these days. It's less expensive than 3/4" material and easier to handle from a weight standpoint. It's also very strong when you construct using any of a number of good methods.