In this study, alkaline lignin (AL), dealkaline lignin (DAL), and lignin sulfonate (SL) were liquefied in phenol with sulfuric acid (H2SO4) or hydrochloric acid (HCl) as the catalyst. The phenol-liquefied lignins were used as raw materials to prepare resol-type phenol-formaldehyde resins (PF) by reacting with formalin under alkaline conditions. The results show that phenol-liquefied lignin-based PF resins had shorter gel time at 135 degrees C and had lower exothermic peak temperature during DSC heat-scanning than that of normal PF resin. The thermo-degradation of cured phenol-liquefied lignin-based PF resins was divided into four temperature regions, similar to the normal PF resin. When phenol-liquefied lignin-based PF resins were used for manufacturing plywood, most of them had the dry, warm water soaked, and repetitive boiling water soaked bonding strength fitting in the request of CNS 1349 standard for Type 1 plywood. (c) 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011