Is this a phenolic sheet?

[kelly logan]

I believe this is a phenolic sheet it has the same material as my saw inserts. It is a 4 ft x 6 ft sheet, the corners have a little busted out. Both sides are laminated one side is grooved to ½ inch squares. What would a person cut this with? If a few of you want a little sample to confirm this is phenolic I can put a little piece in an envelope to mail to a few of you. Just pm your mailing address. Once this is confirmed that it is phenolic I will place it in the classified section and custom cut the sheet.

[Tim Janssen]

Doesn't look like any phenolic I have ever seen!
Google the word "phenolic". You'll find some pictures of phenolic I'm familiar with.

Tim

[Bill Orbine]

Looks similar to Trespa or possibly some other similar product line. Trespa is melamine cladded sheet goods. The core is wood fibers cured in resin under high pressure and temp (or something like that). Not stated as phenolic.

[Bruce Page]

I have worked with a lot of glass & cotton phenolics over the years. I haven't seen any that looked like that.

[johnny means]

Judging by the way that corner is split I would guess not. Also, I can't imagine why someone would put plastic laminate on solid Phenolic. I'm guessing that is a platen from a vacuum setup and it's made from some sort of fiber board.

[Myk Rian]

That is hardboard with a covering on it. Cut it any way you want.
Here is some phenolic, and a couple things you can make with it. It can be cut anyway you want to, but can be hard on blades.
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[Steve Ryan]

Is the white material laminated to the black core? Trespa is a thick phenolic material made in the Netherlands. They stopped using brown paper for the interior sheets about ten years ago. All interior sheets are now black, hence the black core. Wilsonart and Formica are phenolic sheets. Trespa is just a thicker sheet. Top layer is melamine treated thin paper that becomes clear once pressed. Second layer down is the colored paper with a solid color, pattern, or woodgrain print. All other layers are black (Trespa) phenolic treated paper. Put the layers in a very hot press at about 3000 psi and cook them till done.
Try drilling the sheet with a dull steel bit. It will stink like a burned out electrical thingy if it is all phenolic. It cuts with carbide tools and smells bad. You can also rout it with carbide bits. Best tooling life is with lower RPMs and a good chip load. This keeps the cutting edge into the cooler material and the lower RPMs also keep the edge cool.
Phenolic sheets come in many flavors. Glass filled, linen or canvas filled, paper filled (Trespa), and many thicknesses.

[Myk Rian]

What I have is Trespa, but it sure doesn't seem to be made of paper.
A small 3/8" x 24" x 48" piece weighs in at about 15 pounds. Very heavy stuff.

[Julian Tracy]

Quite often I've seen solid phenolic laminated with formica type laminates - not at all odd.

JT

[Mike OMelia]

I recently Google researched Phenolics. Was surprised by the many types. When I "think" of phenolic, what comes to mind is that black "plastic" material that is very hard and brittle. You see it on router plates such as those that come with the Bosch Colt. I guess it can be different colors. I think in older times, we would have called it Bakelite. Seems the term "phenolic" refers to a class of materials. What we are most interested in is synthetic phenolic resins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenolic_resin

Mike

[Steve Ryan]

I recently Google researched Phenolics. Was surprised by the many types. When I "think" of phenolic, what comes to mind is that black "plastic" material that is very hard and brittle. You see it on router plates such as those that come with the Bosch Colt. I guess it can be different colors. I think in older times, we would have called it Bakelite. Seems the term "phenolic" refers to a class of materials. What we are most interested in is synthetic phenolic resins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenolic_resin

Mike
Bakelite is different than phenolic sheet, although both are thermosetting. Trespa may not feel like it is paper, but the heat and pressure that cures it turn it into a layered solid. Try splitting a sheet (like splitting the layers of a sheet of plywood) and you will find that it splits easier then other directions. Formica and Wilsonart laminates (in fact all p-lams) show this even easier, as they are made from paper also. Both are wood products. If you take a small scrap of it and tear it like paper you will find that it has a grain direction just like wood, sorta. Wear gloves because that stuff will give "paper cut" a whole new meaning The grain is from the grain direction of the rolls of treated paper that make up the product, and this grain direction is aligned with the sanding scratches on the back of the sheet. Also the long direction of the sheets. P-lam tears easily along the grain just like wood splits. The tear is only somewhat aided by the scratch direction.

[kelly logan]

I should not have said laminated, on both sides It looks like it was sprayed on. I chip a little off in corner and it looks just as thin as a piece of office paper. And yes the groves are down to the black and they are the width of a nickel.
I am waiting for a couple replies from manufactures to see if I send them a piece they are willing to identify what it is

[Dan Hintz]

That last pic makes it look like a dry erase board / melamine.

[kelly logan]

It was used as a table top at a door/window factory, I wanted the table frame at the auction so this could be just a bonus for me.The checkered squares was the top.I can not lift it without another pair of hands.

[pat warner]

I think you have a foogayzee!

[Mike OMelia]

I think you have a foogayzee!

Have you ever Googled that term? :eek:

Mike

[Logan William]

Without seeing a closer and in focus view of the broken corner to me it kinda looks like Garolite sheets, which is a compsite, resin material that can have anything laminated to top and bottom and weighs a ton

[kelly logan]

Just to let everyone know that I sent pieces out to different phenoilc sheet manufactures. will post the results when I get them. It does cut a real smooth finish on table saw and band saw. I also made one for my table saw and works out great. cuts threads real nice for leveling screws

[Brett Bobo]

Afternoon Steve,
For Trespa's interior products, they are still derived from wood products, either as Kraft paper or compressed wood chips. When I toured the Trespa facility in Weert, Netherlands in March of 2010, they have huge spools of Kraft paper that are run through the phenolic resin and binders to create the dozen or so layers that makeup the core of the phenolic sheets. I'm not sure what causes the black core, possibly a colorant in the resin before it goes throught the electronic beaming process. As a side note, the mountains of saw dust at their facility was a site to see as I thought my shop created a lot saw dust!

[Myk Rian]

That last pic makes it look like a dry erase board / melamine.
Melamine is the paper thin covering, not the board itself.

[kelly logan]

Both manufactures says it is XX Black paper phenolic sheet. There is a white film similar to a thin laminate but not a laminate they think it was sprayed on but not sure. to add a extra smoothness to the surface. Did a search on XX Black paper phenolic sheet came up with a price of $33.00-46.00 a square foot that is with out the white film. In my lifetime I will not use this much so I will be selling 1/2 of this sheet in the classified section.