The demands made by weight bearing vertebrae and limbs would not be met without some refinements to such a disordered composite. A natural composite which is obviously more structured than embryonic bone is wood. The fibres of wood are orientated along lines of tension, which makes it susceptible to splitting along the grain but very difficult to crack across the direction of the fibres. The fibre orientation works for trees, but when timber is used for building it is often laminated to prevent it splitting. It is the orientation of each layer in plywood which contributes to its strength.
Lamination toughens materials even if there are no actual fibres.
Samurai swords were made by repeated softening, rolling and folding of the steel blade, in the same way flaky pastry is made. The result was a sword resilient enough to withstand the clash of armour in battle, but so hard, that it could be honed razor sharp. The legendry test of a good blade was that it should be able to slice through a silk handkerchief tossed into the air. It is fibre orientation and laminar structure which takes bone the crucial step from embryonic, woven bone to the order and strength of compact bone. The metabolic unit of compact bone is the osteon, a rod with concentric laminations, like the layers of a leek.