Guarantor Non-Guarantor Subsidiary Financial Information Level 4 (Details) - Consolidating Statement of Operations (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended		6 Months Ended
	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2012	Jun. 30, 2013	Jun. 30, 2012
Net sales	$ 1,250	$ 1,259	$ 2,442	$ 2,495
Cost of sales	1,098	1,088	2,147	2,152
Gross profit	152	171	295	343
Selling, general and administrative expense	89	79	181	164
Asset impairments	7	0	7	23
Business realignment costs	2	3	11	18
Other operating expense (income), net	5	(3)	2	2
Operating income	49	92	94	136
Interest expense, net	76	67	150	132
Intercompany interest expense (income)	0	0	0	0
Loss on extinguishment of debt	0	0	6	0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	(2)	(1)	3	1
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	(25)	26	(65)	3
Income tax (benefit) expense	6	4	(26)	2
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	(31)	22	(39)	1
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	3	6	7	11
Net income	(28)	28	(32)	12
Comprehensive income (loss)	(43)	(15)	(60)	(2)
Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. [Member]
Net sales	572	576	1,109	1,114
Cost of sales	485	484	949	942
Gross profit	87	92	160	172
Selling, general and administrative expense	29	17	57	47
Asset impairments	0		0	0
Business realignment costs	2	2	6	4
Other operating expense (income), net	(1)	(4)	3	(3)
Operating income	57	77	94	124
Interest expense, net	8	14	18	30
Intercompany interest expense (income)	(47)	(35)	(91)	(65)
Loss on extinguishment of debt			2
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	(8)	22	7	11
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	10	6	(24)	18
Income tax (benefit) expense	(4)	3	(42)	2
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	14	3	18	16
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	(42)	25	(50)	(4)
Net income	(28)	28	(32)	12
Comprehensive income (loss)	(43)	(15)	(60)	(2)
Subsidiary Issuers [Member]
Net sales	0	0	0	0
Cost of sales	0	0	0	0
Gross profit	0	0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	0	0	0
Asset impairments	0		0	0
Business realignment costs	0	0	0	0
Other operating expense (income), net	0	0	(4)	0
Operating income	0	0	4	0
Interest expense, net	67	46	128	85
Intercompany interest expense (income)	67	49	130	91
Loss on extinguishment of debt			0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	0	0	0	0
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	3	6	6
Income tax (benefit) expense	0	0	1	0
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	3	5	6
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	0	0	0	0
Net income	0	3	5	6
Comprehensive income (loss)	1	0	5	4
Combined Subsidiary Guarantors [Member]
Net sales	0	0	0	0
Cost of sales	0	0	0	0
Gross profit	0	0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	0	0	0
Asset impairments	0		0	0
Business realignment costs	0	0	0	0
Other operating expense (income), net	0	0	0	0
Operating income	0	0	0	0
Interest expense, net	0	0	0	0
Intercompany interest expense (income)	0	0	0	0
Loss on extinguishment of debt			0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	0	1	0	0
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	(1)	0	0
Income tax (benefit) expense	0	0	0	0
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	(1)	0	0
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	(17)	5	(23)	3
Net income	(17)	4	(23)	3
Comprehensive income (loss)	(16)	5	(23)	4
Combined Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member]
Net sales	729	761	1,437	1,530
Cost of sales	664	682	1,302	1,359
Gross profit	65	79	135	171
Selling, general and administrative expense	60	62	124	117
Asset impairments	7		7	23
Business realignment costs	0	1	5	14
Other operating expense (income), net	6	1	3	5
Operating income	(8)	15	(4)	12
Interest expense, net	1	7	4	17
Intercompany interest expense (income)	(20)	(14)	(39)	(26)
Loss on extinguishment of debt			4
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	6	(24)	(4)	(10)
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	(35)	18	(47)	(21)
Income tax (benefit) expense	10	1	15	0
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	(45)	17	(62)	(21)
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	1	2	2	2
Net income	(44)	19	(60)	(19)
Comprehensive income (loss)	(62)	(2)	(78)	(23)
Eliminations [Member]
Net sales	(51)	(78)	(104)	(149)
Cost of sales	(51)	(78)	(104)	(149)
Gross profit	0	0	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	0	0	0
Asset impairments	0		0
Business realignment costs	0	0	0	0
Other operating expense (income), net	0	0	0	0
Operating income	0	0	0	0
Interest expense, net	0	0	0	0
Intercompany interest expense (income)	0	0	0	0
Loss on extinguishment of debt			0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	0	0	0	0
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	0	0	0
Income tax (benefit) expense	0	0	0	0
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	0	0	0	0
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	61	(26)	78	10
Net income	61	(26)	78	10
Comprehensive income (loss)	$ 77	$ (3)	$ 96	$ 15