Marc,Majones1 wrote: ↑Sat Oct 30, 2021 12:46 pm 1. What finish should I use on the top to harden it and make it smoother? I will wax it after finishing to make things slide better. Like I said in my previous post, I currently have Old Masters Tung Oil Varnish and Watco Danish Oil, are either of those good for my needs? I’ve read that many people like to use shellac, but I would need to get some. Your thoughts?
What you have looks fine to me. The only thing to check, in my opinion, is to make sure you have enough height between the bottom of this router table and the waytubes below it. Depending on the size of your router it may or may not fit here. For wood finishes it mostly comes down to personal preference. Don't get me wrong, there are pros and cons to every wood finish, but often times it is really personal preference, e.g. which one is easier to clean up, or has lower VOC's (odor) than others, etc., etc. Sometimes it just comes down to which finish you have on hand already in the cabinet.
For a project like this you do have to be a little careful though in that whatever finish you apply needs to be thin and uniform so as not to create high & low spots that could impact what you are routing (router table needs to be reasonably flat in area in/around bit at a minimum). I am kind of partial to polyurethanes myself and I like oil based over water based. It sucks because they smell and burn out your nostrils/sinuses while applying them, so you really want to wear a respirator with activated charcoal canisters. They also take days to weeks to cure fully which is less desirable. I just like them because poly is more permanent and longer lasting. Others prefer thinner, lighter finishes that can be easily patched and repaired, e.g. hard wax oils, Danish/Tung oils, shellac, etc. An alternative to wood finish is to apply laminate to the router table top, such as Formica brand or similar. These can give you a smooth surface (low friction) which is an advantage for a router table, but will also protect the top surface and hopefully maintain the flatness of the top over time.