Guarantor Non-Guarantor Subsidiary Financial Information Level 4 (Details) - Consolidating Statement of Operations (USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2014
Net sales	$ 1,079	$ 1,293
Cost of sales	923	1,126
Gross profit	156	167
Selling, general and administrative expense	82	94
Business realignment costs	3	6
Other operating expense (income), net	8	4
Operating income	63	63
Interest expense, net	77	77
Intercompany interest expense (income)	0	0
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	(3)	2
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	(11)	(16)
Income tax (benefit) expense	26	6
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	(37)	(22)
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	3	4
Net income	(34)	(18)
Comprehensive income (loss)	(96)	(15)
Momentive Specialty Chemicals Inc. [Member]
Net sales	465	578
Cost of sales	405	505
Gross profit	60	73
Selling, general and administrative expense	35	27
Business realignment costs	2	5
Other operating expense (income), net	4	1
Operating income	19	40
Interest expense, net	75	75
Intercompany interest expense (income)	20	25
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	101	0
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	(137)	(10)
Income tax (benefit) expense	(5)	(5)
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	(132)	(5)
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	98	(13)
Net income	(34)	(18)
Comprehensive income (loss)	(96)	(15)
Combined Subsidiary Guarantors [Member]
Net sales	0	0
Cost of sales	0	0
Gross profit	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	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
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	74	(1)
Net income	74	(1)
Comprehensive income (loss)	74	(1)
Combined Non-Guarantor Subsidiaries [Member]
Net sales	663	772
Cost of sales	567	678
Gross profit	96	94
Selling, general and administrative expense	47	67
Business realignment costs	1	1
Other operating expense (income), net	4	3
Operating income	44	23
Interest expense, net	2	2
Intercompany interest expense (income)	(20)	(25)
Other non-operating (income) expense, net	(104)	2
(Loss) income from continuing operations before income tax and earnings from unconsolidated entities	126	(6)
Income tax (benefit) expense	31	11
Income from continuing operations before earnings from unconsolidated entities	95	(17)
(Losses) earnings from unconsolidated entities, net of taxes	(2)	1
Net income	93	(16)
Comprehensive income (loss)	68	(7)
Eliminations [Member]
Net sales	(49)	(57)
Cost of sales	(49)	(57)
Gross profit	0	0
Selling, general and administrative expense	0	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
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	(167)	17
Net income	(167)	17
Comprehensive income (loss)	$ (142)	$ 8