Can OSB work?

[JamesonStyles]

Lately I've been drawn to 3/4" OSB. I know it's a crime, but it seems to me like a workable option for extremely low-cost cabinets, perhaps small PA speakers. It's extremely cheap (about 1/5 the cost of birch ply and MDF where I live), fairly uniformly dense, and though it's not very rigid it can be braced. Sure, it's ugly, but carpet hides all faults. It also holds fasteners about as well as MDF.

I dunno guys, I think we may have written this one off a little early. What do you think? Can OSB work?

[Steve Conner]

I had two Peavey bass cabinets, a 4x10 and a 2x10, and that's what they were made from, OSB covered in carpet.

They worked fine the whole time I owned them, and I sold them on for a good price.

[J M Fahey]

I'm trying OSB just now, I bought a few boards.
Personal opinion: I'm dissapointed.
It can only be finished in carpet, because Tolex gets real ugly.
Edges split a lot, require a lot of sanding (negating the low cost), when a saw tooth grabs a fiber it takes the whole chunk with it, and the material is very hard and visibly kills tool sharpness very fast.
Now I'm using it only as front/speaker panel material, where the grill cloth hides it, or as internal unfinished bracing, to get rid of it.
Still 4 boards to go, from a pack of 10.

[JamesonStyles]

Well, it seems like about what I expected. Difficult to finish, but good properties for speakers. Hm. I use a really tough carpet that just eats cabinet flaws for breakfast, so a few nicks and gouges here and there aren't the end of the world for me.

Hey, if it's good enough for peavey, it's good enough for me, especially at the price.