Material for router/table saw fence

[Richard Holub]

I am in the process of building two fences for my work table. The plans I have call for maple plywood as fence material. Since I have plenty of read oak available, I would like to know if it is stable enough material to use for a fence as opposed to the reomended plywood :rolleyes: .

[Brian Parker]

I'm no expert but I would have to say that they recommend plywood because of the glued layers and less tendency to warp vs the same thinckness of a single piece of wood.

For my router table (Very similar to the one on the New Yankee Workshop) I got some 5/8" UMHF and made that the vertical face, its pretty slick, never needs waxing, don't warp (its screwed to 3/4 MDF behind it and it wont rust. I forget where I got mine at but I know the piece that I got was pretty cheap. I went on eBay and found people who sell it and just sent them a msg asking if they had anything in the dimensions that I needed and a few days later it was on my doorstep.

[Saul Harris]

I am not familiar with the "UMHF" referred to but a good face material for a fence would be 3/4" UHMW (ultra-high molecular weight) plastic. It is slick, does not need any waxing or anything ever. I buy mine from Woodline in Nashville, TN (www.woodline.com (http://www.woodline.com) or www.woodbits.com (http://www.woodbits.com)). They have it in different sizes and their customer service will amaze you.

[Richard Holub]

Saul, I already purchased UHMW sheeting but it is only about 1/16 " thick. I will laminate my red oak fence with this and hopefully it will keep moisture from seaping into the oak. I was planning on also coating the fence with polyurethane or the like.

[Brian Parker]

Ah yes UHMW is what I was talking about, I don't know where I got the 'UMHF' from. I have seen what rocker charges for the stuff in the store and I think that its cheaper to buy it via the mail. I checked and there are some pretty good prices on it if you google it.

[Hal Flynt]

I have an Accufence on my PM66 with the Slick plastic face. I ran a dial guage down the face of it this weekend and it had wide/narrow places that varied .010" from front to back. I made a new face fom 3/4" MDF and used a good wipe on urethane to seal it and then dial guaged it to within .002". (Care needs to be taken when "bolting the face to the fence to avoid warping it, DAMHIKT)

I was going to use a good baltic birtch Plywood, but didn't have any pieces long enough. I am rather pleased with the MDF at this point.