Geez, always the last to know! After reading Terry's post and Wayne's link to FWW Online blog, I went back and looked in the mag- there it is in print under "Letters" on pp 10 of the July/Aug issue.
I'm not sure if it was in the FWW blog or elsewhere, but there where quite a few folks who thought "phenolic ply" was really good stuff- certainly easier to use than doing your own laminating. Even if it were as rugged as laminate, it is difficult to impossible to get big sheets of "phenolic ply" and at the prices Woodcraft and WoodPeckers charge, it is definitely too expensive. Turns out a lot of the supporters of "phenolic ply" were in the construction trade and were buying large sheets in bulk (10's to 100's of sheets) from suppliers of concrete form material!! When the WW retailers above get it and cut it into small pieces for you and me, they REALLY jack up the price!!!!!!
I still contend it is a stretch to call it "phenolic" - true phenolic is actually made from layers of paper or linen, that have been saturated in phenolic resin (epoxy) and cured at elevated temps under extreme pressure. "Phenolic ply" is just plywood that has had its surface coated with epoxy, with little to no penetration of the epoxy into the underlying plies.
