Rust and wood swelling in florida shops

[tom coleman]

My florida garage shop is not air conditioned. The plate in my router table top is very difficilt to remove because of wood swelling. This is a commercial router table top which is probably MDF sandwiched between plastic coating for outside. What to do? First thought is to use rubber mallet to gently remove plate. Then build a template of the plate opening.
Finally select a mortise bit w top roller and re-route the opening.......what do you pros think of this approach?

I'm also getting some rust on tools in drawers.........anything I can put in drawers to minimize this? Wax prevents rust on table sawand other exposed iron or steel worksurfaces.

[Jeff Willard]

There are a number of solutions for rust prevention, from sprays to silica packets to plug in dehumidification devices. Lee Valley has at least a couple of solutions, but the widest variety of rust prevention products that I have found has been at places that cater to the firearms crowd. MidwayUSA is one.

As a stop gap measure, wax will work on the tools in drawers, as should any light oil. Just saturate a rag and wipe it on. I use camellia oil.

www.leevalley.com (http://www.leevalley.com)

www.midwayusa.com (http://www.midwayusa.com)

[Lex Boegen]

You could also sand lightly the rim of the router insert plate instead of re-routing the table top. I'd sand a little at a time and test fit often. No need to remove any more than needed, because the wood movement will vary quite a bit between our dry winters and rainy summers.

[Todd Carpenter]

Hi Tom,

I'm going to echo a bit of what Lex said about the wood movement. Either way would work fine - just make sure you're plate isn't "floating" in the recess - unless you want some real wavy results on your work. I'll be fitting mine with some recessed screws just to make sure that doesn't happen (again). Here in Ohio it doesn't move as much as it did in Michigan, but it can be the difference between a good fitting joint and one that needs shims.

Good Luck!

[John McCaskill]

My florida garage shop is not air conditioned. The plate in my router table top is very difficilt to remove because of wood swelling. This is a commercial router table top which is probably MDF sandwiched between plastic coating for outside. What to do? First thought is to use rubber mallet to gently remove plate. Then build a template of the plate opening.
Finally select a mortise bit w top roller and re-route the opening.......what do you pros think of this approach?

I'm also getting some rust on tools in drawers.........anything I can put in drawers to minimize this? Wax prevents rust on table sawand other exposed iron or steel worksurfaces.

When I lived in Tampa, the rust problem on my tools was solved completely when I started storing my pool chemicals outside the garage instead of inside. The muratic acid was a particular problem. Now that I'm in Houston, all I do is put Boeshield T-9 on the table saw top.

John

[Larry Nall]

Everything I had was rusting until I put in a dehumidifier.
That fixed it.

[Lucien R. Pouliot]

Tom, I live in Palm Bay, FL and know what you are saying. A older gentleman I worked with years ago told me to put Camphor blocks in my tool draws to keep the rust away. What it does is it put a gas coating on the tool and stops all rust. It does the job. It does not do anything to the tools but keep the rust off. I have been using ot for years http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250605331038

Here is a is a link on e-bay that sells the camphor. This person is in Florida.

Lou