What is oriented in Oriented Strand Board?

[Roger Feeley]

My son in law asked me and I had no answer. It looks pretty random to me.

[Myles Moran]

It has inner layers alternating like plywood. The outer layers are random.

[Doug Garson]

I think the strands are cross oriented in the horizontal plane parallel to the top and bottom surfaces of the sheet. If they were completely random you would have vertical strands running from top to bottom surfaces of the sheet. My nomenclature assumes the sheet is laying horizontally.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

It is made from a specific cut of chips that come off of the timber in strands rather than in particles. Now to check with Google to see how far off I am...

[Tom M King]

I think all the shavings are oriented flat.

[Roger Feeley]

Thanks for all the information. I wouldn’t know how to do it but it would be interesting to make a stop motion video of osb being sanded.
-take a picture
-run it through my jet wide drum sander
-repeat.
I have a neighbor who’s a photographer for National Geographic. She goes on those NG cruises as the pro. I bet she knows ho to do stop motion.

[roger wiegand]

Here's a promotional video from Georgia Pacific that shows the production process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK4tcum_1ag

The chips are randomly oriented in only two dimensions and fixed in the third, hence differentiated from something like particle board where the pieces are random in all three dimensions.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Here's a promotional video from Georgia Pacific that shows the production process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK4tcum_1ag

The chips are randomly oriented in only two dimensions and fixed in the third, hence differentiated from something like particle board where the pieces are random in all three dimensions.

That was very informative. The very high temperatures surprised me.

[Pat Germain]

Is that all there is to it? Well, shoot, I bet I could make that stuff in my back yard. All I need is a multi-million pound press. :)

Likely the Georgia-Pacific OSB is very good quality, but I don't think I've ever seen it for sale in my area. Lowe's and Home Despot have one brand and it isn't GP. Perhaps some of the local building suppliers sell it, but those places are the proverbial 8-4, Monday through Friday businesses.