Excelsior - Cast Iron Router Table Top (Rating: 5)

My old router table top was a Woodpeckers MDF version purchased around about 2007. It had served me well, truth be told. It was/is still serviceable. Unlike most MDF tops it didn't warp, even though I left the router hanging in it constantly, even when not in use. The problem I did have with it was with the slots cut into it for the fence. Those slots were merely machined into the MDF. There were no reinforced channels. consequently, after years of clamping and unclamping my Rouseau fence with T-slot bolts in those channels, they started to get pulled out of plane with the table top. The result being that boards would get hung up on those slots when i would pass a piece along the fence. Very frustrating. I resigned myself to replace that top with either a phenolic or cast iron version. While at the recent Woodworking show in Toronto, I found a great deal on an Excelsior cast iron top, so I scooped it up. The photo is the new top mounted to the old router table base. Haven't had a chance to use it yet. But I am expecting great results from it. Stay tuned for another review on the new fence I am building for it.