I wanted to test some ideas, so I bought a stack of 2 by 2 foot particle board.
The board turned out to be not much better than thick paper. It still warped a little, had edges as lumpy as oatmeal, and was so heavy you could chop off a toe if you dropped a panel. But I did get a few interesting, if crude, pictures out of the experience.
This one looks like synapses to me, and I've always liked the symmetry of using a "natural" painting process -- the sort-of erosion that happens with this process -- to make a picture that looks like something from nature.