Abstract: A method of carbonizing fabricated wood-based materials, such as wood composition board, is disclosed. Fabricated wood-based material is used as a precursor material, which is carbonized under controlled temperature and atmosphere conditions to produce a porous carbon product having substantially the same cellular structure as the precursor fabricated wood-based material. The porous carbonized product may be used for various applications such as filters, fuel cell gas separators, and battery electrodes, or may be further processed to form carbon-polymer or carbon-carbon composites. The carbonized product may also be converted to a ceramic such as silicon carbide. Additional processing may be used to form ceramic-metal or ceramic-ceramic composites.