What is Oriented strand board?
[[Image:Oriented strand board at Courtabœuf 2011.jpg|thumb|300px|{{center|OSB can be easily identified by its visible wood strands.}}]] '''Oriented strand board''', commonly called '''OSB''', is a type of [[particle board]] which is made of carefully positioned strands of wood. [[Aspen]] and other similar woods are cut into long strands parallel to the [[:en:wikt:woodgrain|grain of the wood]].<ref name=Lund21>Eric Lund; United States Department of Housing and Urban Development; et al., ''Alternatives to Lumber and Plywood in Home Construction'' (Washington, D.C.: The Dept., 1993), p. 21</ref> It is manufactured into sheets made up of wood strands, [[wax]], and [[resin]] [[adhesive]]s. Sheets are formed under pressure and heat.<ref name=Lund21/> The finished sheet size varies by country. OSB is very strong making it ideal for building [[construction]].<ref name=Lund21/> Its most common uses in construction are for covering walls, floors and roofs before the finish products are applied. * OSB-2 is specially designed OSB for [[:en:wikt:load-bearing|load-bearing]] purposes. It is for use in dry areas.<ref name=Kues316>''Wood Production, Wood Technology, and Biotechnological Impacts'', ed. Ursula Kües (Göttingen, Univ.-Verl. Göttingen, 2007), p. 316</ref> * OSB-3 is designed the same, but is for use in wet areas.<ref name=Kues316/> OSB can also be made from trees from areas burned over by [[forest fire]]s.<ref>Laura Maria Moya, ''Using Fire-impacted Trees for Wood Composites: Characterization and Modeling'', dissertation, University of Minnesota (November 2008), p. 32</ref> ==References== {{reflist}} ==Related pages== * [[Plywood]] * [[Engineered wood]] * [[Particle board]] * [[Waferboard]] ==Other websites== * [http://www.apawood.org/level_b.cfm?content=prd_osb_main APA - The Engineered Wood Association: OSB] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131109183702/http://www.apawood.org/level_b.cfm?content=prd_osb_main |date=2013-11-09 }} * [http://www.kronospan-worldwide.com/products/oriented-strand-bo