The Forestry Forum
General Forestry => Drying and Processing => Topic started by: markkelly on November 01, 2012, 08:41:27 PM
I have a bunch of OSB scraps and thinking about making them into to stickers has any tried it. pros and cons.
It would be safe to use them, but they will not last long. Don't use any material that contains dirt though.
Unless the OSB is 3/4" thick or thicker, you could have too little air flow and get stain/mold/mildew. Some species of wood are more susceptible to stain/mold/mildew like maple or pine. If the OSB is the 7/16" sheathing stuff, I would say that it is too thin for most species.
I did it ONCE. Wanna know why I didn't do it twice? :-X
MOLD :'( it did make some neatly spalted maple boards but not in a good way
The reason OSB stickers don't last long is because OSB is made out of compressed flakes. When the compressed flakes gain moisture they expand and break the glue bonds. If the drying conditions for the lumber is properly controlled the stickers should not gain that much moisture. And if the lumber and the stickers are not dirty neither should develop mold.
As WDH mentioned, thickness is important and may be the reason for high humidity in the stack as there would not be even air flow. Stickers are usually 3/4" thick.