Guarantor Non-Guarantor Subsidiary Financial Information Level 4 (Details) - Consolidating Statement of Operations (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2013	Mar. 31, 2012
Net sales	$ 1,192	$ 1,236
Cost of sales	1,049	1,064
Gross profit	143	172
Selling, general and administrative expense	92	85
Asset impairments	0	23
Business realignment costs	9	15
Other operating expense (income), net	(3)	5
Operating income	45	44
Interest expense, net	74	65
Loss on extinguishment of debt	6	0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	5	2
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	(40)	(23)
Income tax (benefit) expense	(32)	(2)
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	(8)	(21)
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	4	5
Net income	(4)	(16)
Comprehensive income (loss)	(17)	13
Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. [Member]
Net sales	537	538
Cost of sales	464	458
Gross profit	73	80
Selling, general and administrative expense	28	30
Asset impairments		0
Business realignment costs	4	2
Other operating expense (income), net	4	1
Operating income	37	47
Interest expense, net	10	16
Intercompany interest expense (income)	44	30
Loss on extinguishment of debt	2
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	15	(11)
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	(34)	12
Income tax (benefit) expense	(38)	(1)
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	4	13
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	(8)	(29)
Net income	(4)	(16)
Comprehensive income (loss)	(17)	13
Subsidiary Issuers [Member]
Net sales	0	0
Cost of sales	0	0
Gross profit	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	0
Asset impairments		0
Business realignment costs	0	0
Other operating expense (income), net	(4)	0
Operating income	4	0
Interest expense, net	61	39
Intercompany interest expense (income)	(63)	(42)
Loss on extinguishment of debt	0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	0	0
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	6	3
Income tax (benefit) expense	1	0
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	5	3
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	0	0
Net income	5	3
Comprehensive income (loss)	4	4
Combined Subsidiary Guarantors [Member]
Net sales	0	0
Cost of sales	0	0
Gross profit	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	0
Asset impairments		0
Business realignment costs	0	0
Other operating expense (income), net	0	0
Operating income	0	0
Interest expense, net	0	0
Intercompany interest expense (income)	0	0
Loss on extinguishment of debt	0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	0	(1)
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	1
Income tax (benefit) expense	0	0
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	1
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	(6)	(2)
Net income	(6)	(1)
Comprehensive income (loss)	(7)	(1)
Combined Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member]
Net sales	708	769
Cost of sales	638	677
Gross profit	70	92
Selling, general and administrative expense	64	55
Asset impairments		23
Business realignment costs	5	13
Other operating expense (income), net	(3)	4
Operating income	4	(3)
Interest expense, net	3	10
Intercompany interest expense (income)	19	12
Loss on extinguishment of debt	4
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	(10)	14
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	(12)	(39)
Income tax (benefit) expense	5	(1)
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	(17)	(38)
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	1	0
Net income	(16)	(38)
Comprehensive income (loss)	(16)	(21)
Eliminations [Member]
Net sales	(53)	(71)
Cost of sales	(53)	(71)
Gross profit	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	0
Asset impairments		0
Business realignment costs	0	0
Other operating expense (income), net	0	0
Operating income	0	0
Interest expense, net	0	0
Intercompany interest expense (income)	0	0
Loss on extinguishment of debt	0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	0	0
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	0
Income tax (benefit) expense	0	0
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	0
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	17	36
Net income	17	36
Comprehensive income (loss)	19	18
Consolidated [Member]
Net sales	1,192	1,236
Cost of sales	1,049	1,064
Gross profit	143	172
Selling, general and administrative expense	92	85
Asset impairments		23
Business realignment costs	9	15
Other operating expense (income), net	(3)	5
Operating income	45	44
Interest expense, net	74	65
Intercompany interest expense (income)	0	0
Loss on extinguishment of debt	6
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	5	2
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	(40)	(23)
Income tax (benefit) expense	(32)	(2)
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	(8)	(21)
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	4	5
Net income	(4)	(16)
Comprehensive income (loss)	$ (17)	$ 13