Part of my job is to cut 4 x 8 sheets of 1/8 hardboard (smooth one side) into usable panels of various sizes. I go through roughly 50 sheets a month and we've been using it for 5 years, so roughly 3000 4 x 8 sheets. I have yet to see ANY of these "delaminate" including waste strips that I break in half to fit the trashcan. Don't know where you're getting the idea of how easily it will come apart, but in my experience it just doesn't happen.

Love the idea of the cutting boards at the dollar store though.

1 hour ago, Wichman3 said:

Don't know where you're getting the idea of how easily it will come apart,

 

a few decades of replacing it w/ something else...

cabinet repairs where it was used for backs..

drawer repairs where it was used for drawer bottoms..

floor rehab where it was used as vinyl underlay..

installed new siding where id it was used for lap siding..

or most anyplace where it got damp/wet/stressed...

One additional comment------ specify only hardened, dark brown Masonite---- the light brown stuff is of little use in my experience.

9 hours ago, Stick486 said:

installed new siding where id it was used for lap siding.

I thought I had the only house where they used that!

17 hours ago, Stick486 said:

 

have you considered UHMW...

sold as cutting boards at the dollar store...

The company that I used to work for bought it in1/2" thick sheet and used it for tops on workbenches, mostly in the Inspection Dept. They were looking for somebody to attach the UHMW to the worktops so I took some of them home and did them. It was a PITA to clean the swarf out of the drill/countersink bits until I realized the way to do it was drill a straight hole and then countersink as a separate operation - either a single flutes bit or one of those with the transverse hole through the tapered part. Kind of a mindless job after a while - put a screw in each corner and then used a drywall T-square as a guide to work a row across the top, move down and then repeat.

40 minutes ago, tomp said:

It was a PITA to clean the swarf out of the drill/countersink bits

 

wax or dry lube the bits.. that will help tremendously...

dipping seems to be the better method for application...

The problem is that the material cuts so easily is that you mostly get a long, continuous chip that climbs up the flutes of the drill and packs into the gaps at the countersink. I found that the "Weldon" type worked best, and they do a nice job on aluminum too.

the Veritas version of those is a good et as well as Fullers

http://www.wlfuller.com/

I'm making some 16" tall plastic laminate (formica) back splashes for the walls around my kitchen counters. I don't want to glue directly to the new sheetrock and mud joints. So I thought about srewing down 1/4" masonite as a substrate,  then gluing the laminate to the masonite with contact cement. Would it be better to glue to the smooth side or the rough side? 

54 minutes ago, PieceCounter said:

I'm making some 16" tall plastic laminate (formica) back splashes for the walls around my kitchen counters. I don't want to glue directly to the new sheetrock and mud joints. So I thought about srewing down 1/4" masonite as a substrate,  then gluing the laminate to the masonite with contact cement. Would it be better to glue to the smooth side or the rough side? 

You might consider a construction adhesive. Both LocTite and TiteBond make excellent products.