MDF and Baltic Birch and flatpacks, oh my!

[carbidetooth]

Have you actually eyeballed it? If not, can you request a sample? I bought some plywood with essentially the same description sight-unseen and it turned out to have paper-thin outer plies that peeled up fairly easily.

Duke, those photos are of the product in my shop. It appears to be quite unlike the Asia produced wanna-be stuff of yesteryear. Often referred to in industry as China Birch, it was awful stuff. Machining this will tell me a lot and that will happen soon as I turn that sheet on the router into a roll around cabinet for the mechanical side of my workspace.

 

[carbidetooth]

MDF is many times denser than OSB. In the construction industry, the air permeability of OSB is a real problem in many places and many (expensive) processes to eliminate this fail in the long run. Surface coatings in particular tend to peel off again over time.
The price difference to MDF also does not justify the subsequent effort in loudspeaker/housing construction.

Having been in the residential building biz for some time I think I have a decent understanding of OSB and associated properties. Can you cite some resources for coating failures you mention? Products like Zip sheathing and Advantech subflooring have a fairly long track history at this point. I have a workbench top that is OSB coated with Shellac and it's showing no signs of coating failure.
My point about MDF was to demonstrate that while we may think of it as so dense as to be "air tight", that's not absolute. I'm confident I could accomplish what I suggested but would agree that time and material spent wouldn't represent a good value. I do unusual things so I can learn and see for myself.

 

[carbidetooth]

I would think cabinet building would be a problem for many wannabe diy speaker builders - due to lack of suitable space, tools ans skills. I certainly fall into this category, living in a small flat in a large city. I would need access to either a supervised workshop or an affordable custom cabinet builder.

I think your assessment holds true for many. It seems to me that, ultimately, speaker building is about some bit of passion for woodworking. From a business standpoint, the hobby just isn't big enough to solely support a cabinet making venture. If it was lucrative, there would be many.

 

[Roland68]

Having been in the residential building biz for some time I think I have a decent understanding of OSB and associated properties. Can you cite some resources for coating failures you mention? Products like Zip sheathing and Advantech subflooring have a fairly long track history at this point. I have a workbench top that is OSB coated with Shellac and it's showing no signs of coating failure.
My point about MDF was to demonstrate that while we may think of it as so dense as to be "air tight", that's not absolute. I'm confident I could accomplish what I suggested but would agree that time and material spent wouldn't represent a good value. I do unusual things so I can learn and see for myself.

I only know it from European products and it doesn't necessarily apply to products on other continents.
OSB was used for a long time as a cheap wood substitute without recognizing the problem of air permeability. Google throws up enough results for this.
You misunderstood the part about the coating error, I was referring exclusively to the specially developed processes for subsequent sealing (air impermeability) of installed OSB boards, which is probably often not a permanent solution.