Eric DeSilva
01-21-2009, 10:36 AM
I've seen a number of threads recently about phenolic plywood. Since I did some research, I figured I'd pass along what I've learned and my experience.
The basics... Phenolic plywood, sometimes called PSF (phenolic surface film) plywood, is plywood that has a top and bottom surface created from phenolic, a very hard and slick material. For this reason, it is nice to use for shop jigs--dried glue chips off easily, materials slide on it nicely, and it is very durable. I gather PSF plywood was originally developed for the concrete industry, where they use it to make inexpensive concrete forms that release easily and don't leave grain patterns in the formed concrete.
Phenolic plywood, like other plywood, is not all created equally. The first phenolic plywood I got was from Woodcraft, but their prices run $60 for a 2'x4' sheet of 18mm. As I understand it, Woodcraft's phenolic plywood is "Colorfin," which appears to be made by Finland Color Plywood Corporation under the name Koskisen Plywood (http://www.fcpcusa.com/koskisen.htm). They use 1.5mm plys for the core, and the material is generally very flat and high grade. It also comes in numerous colors. Colorfin is also, apparently, available from Roberts Plywood on Long Island, NY (http://www.getwood.com/stage/rtb1481/details_specialty_plywood/details_colorfin.htm). While they will ship, the delivery costs seem prohibitive to me.
Since people have indicated that WhiteCap, a national concrete supply chain, also carried phenolic ply, I took a trip over to my local Whitecap on Monday. They retail the product under the name "Win Form" or something. My local WhiteCap had a surplus of the stuff in both 3/4" and 1/2", so they sold me two 4' x 8' sheets of 3/4" for $75. That is about 1/7th the price of what Woodcraft sells and, as you might expect, it is *not* the same thing. The sheets I got appeared relatively flat, but not as uniform as the colorfin. In addition, while the phenolic coating seems thicker, there are not as many plys, and the sheets have more flex. They are also black, which suits me fine, but tastes may differ.
That said, I'm pretty happy with the Win Form for my purposes--larger outfeed table for the TS and table for the DP. For precision jig building, I might still opt for the colorfin. Certainly, if I ever happen to be on Long Island with my truck, I'm stopping at Roberts for a couple sheets.
The basics... Phenolic plywood, sometimes called PSF (phenolic surface film) plywood, is plywood that has a top and bottom surface created from phenolic, a very hard and slick material. For this reason, it is nice to use for shop jigs--dried glue chips off easily, materials slide on it nicely, and it is very durable. I gather PSF plywood was originally developed for the concrete industry, where they use it to make inexpensive concrete forms that release easily and don't leave grain patterns in the formed concrete.
Phenolic plywood, like other plywood, is not all created equally. The first phenolic plywood I got was from Woodcraft, but their prices run $60 for a 2'x4' sheet of 18mm. As I understand it, Woodcraft's phenolic plywood is "Colorfin," which appears to be made by Finland Color Plywood Corporation under the name Koskisen Plywood (http://www.fcpcusa.com/koskisen.htm). They use 1.5mm plys for the core, and the material is generally very flat and high grade. It also comes in numerous colors. Colorfin is also, apparently, available from Roberts Plywood on Long Island, NY (http://www.getwood.com/stage/rtb1481/details_specialty_plywood/details_colorfin.htm). While they will ship, the delivery costs seem prohibitive to me.
Since people have indicated that WhiteCap, a national concrete supply chain, also carried phenolic ply, I took a trip over to my local Whitecap on Monday. They retail the product under the name "Win Form" or something. My local WhiteCap had a surplus of the stuff in both 3/4" and 1/2", so they sold me two 4' x 8' sheets of 3/4" for $75. That is about 1/7th the price of what Woodcraft sells and, as you might expect, it is *not* the same thing. The sheets I got appeared relatively flat, but not as uniform as the colorfin. In addition, while the phenolic coating seems thicker, there are not as many plys, and the sheets have more flex. They are also black, which suits me fine, but tastes may differ.
That said, I'm pretty happy with the Win Form for my purposes--larger outfeed table for the TS and table for the DP. For precision jig building, I might still opt for the colorfin. Certainly, if I ever happen to be on Long Island with my truck, I'm stopping at Roberts for a couple sheets.