Gluing OSB to OSB

Glue choices and clamping techniques for gluing oriented strand board sheets together, face to face. August 23, 2006

Question
I glue two sheets of Oriental strand board together (4x8x3/4) to make one 4 x 8 x 1.5" sheet. I was using contact cement, which worked the first few times I used it. But since, the sheets aren't bonding together totally. Can you suggest something better? And a reasonable price? After bonding, the sheet is cut into 6" wide strips.

Forum Responses
(Adhesives Forum)
From contributor P:
I think the difficulty here isn't the glue, as many will work (Titebond II or Titebond III, for example). OSB is so un-flat, your main difficulty will be achieving a good contact between surfaces. If you don't have a full sheet press, a vacuum bag on a flat surface should work. Otherwise, I would suggest ripping your strips a little oversized and clamping a whole stack of them the good old fashioned way - lots of clamps (whatever you have - Bessys have a good, deep reach).


From contributor J:
I found that Gorilla Glue (kind of pricey) and cinderblocks do the job every time. Wet both sides with a water-soaked rag, then spread the glue all over. Get as many cinderblocks as you need to apply the recommended pressure; it may take a lot, but they are cheap and reusable. We recently glued together two 4x8 sheets of ply and then tried to pry them apart. The gorilla glue held better than the glue the plywood manufacturer used in building the plywood - that is to say, the plywood split every place except where we joined it.

From the original questioner:
Thanks. I'll have another go at it soon and try your suggestions!

From contributor M:
We use Titebond II all the time for particleboard. No reason to think OSB is any different (other than the flatness thing). I'd just pour a ton of it onto both boards and spread with a paint roller, getting a nice 100% coverage, and slap them together. The cinderblock idea is great. I've heard of folks parking the forklift on top of things like this or using the lift to plop a unit of plywood or melamine onto it.

From contributor C:
We have had better luck with a polyurethane glue such as Gorilla than Titebond. It seems to have better gap filling abilities than Titebond. Since it is a moisture reactive glue, the advice mentioned above to wet the mating surfaces is good.

The comments below were added after this Forum discussion was archived as a Knowledge Base article (add your comment).

Comment from contributor W:
I have the same experience with osb panels not bonding together. I received a recommendation per the people at osbguide.com and franklininternational.com (titebond):

OSB panels use a bonding/waterproofing resin to secure the wood chips. This resin may bleed to the panel surface during fabrication, coating much of the bare wood. For any adhesive to work on the panel surface, it would have to be 'solvent based' to react to the resin as well as the wood. Water base glue won't work. Sanding the panel surface will also help as well.

Suggested use:
Titebond solvent based FRP adhesive, Titebond trowelable multipurpose construction adhesive, or other brand equivalents.

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