Phenolic plywood question

[Stephen Edwards]

I just received an order from Kencraft of 1/2" BB plywood for some shop projects. It's good quality material and fast service, too!

I asked them include a scrap piece of their phenolic ply if they had one lying around. They did. This plywood has the super slick and smooth surface on one side and the other side is what I would call textured.

Is this what is normally available from other suppliers of the phenolic ply? Just curious.

I understand that what Kencraft sells is also used for concrete forming. Nevertheless, it looks like it will work fine for jigs, fixtures, etc.

There's nowhere around here to buy it. My closest source for phenolic ply, if I want to buy it from a retail store, is 100+ miles.

Thanks for any info.

[Fred Hargis]

I can tell you that I bought a piece at Whitecap after reading the FWW article some time back, driving over 100 miles one way to get it. After I got it home, I cut it for the purposes I had, and quickly found mine to be almost a Chinese ply quality, the plys were almost laughable at how they were crushed into some semblance of unity, and the surface was not quite as smooth as I first thought. No doubt there is some good product available (Woodpecker's sells it on occasion) but I'll not use it again unless I'm certain of the quality.

[Wayne Cannon]

If you only need small pieces, e.g., for jigs, Woodcraft carries 1/2" and 3/4" phenolic-faced plywood in 24"x48" sheets.

A local vendor that primarily wholesales to cabinet shops, etc., will order it, but only with a $350 minimum order.

[Doug Shepard]

The stuff Woodcraft sells is much more like Baltic Birch ply and both sides are smooth. Good stuff if you dont mind the green color.

[Mike Sandman]

The stuff Woodcraft sells is much more like Baltic Birch ply and both sides are smooth. Good stuff if you dont mind the green color.

2 smooth sides, excellent flatness, smooth. Great for jigs.

[Stephen Edwards]

The sample piece that Kencraft sent to me is different than what they now sell. I hadn't noticed that before. The lady DID tell me that she wasn't sure if they had any samples at all. So, I suppose she found and sent a piece of the old stuff they had.

What they now sell is smooth on both sides and advertised as phenolic covered or coated BB plywood. I'll be the guinea pig and try a piece of it. I'm certainly pleased with the BB I just got from them.