# Granite top router table



## marblemike (Sep 19, 2009)

Has anyone ever used a slab of granite for a router table top? Some of the woodworking equipment sold by Steel City uses granite for the tops. I have a jointer with granite and it's great. I currently am using a home made router table I built from a roll around stainless steel cabinet from Sam's. I used a piece of 3/4" plastic laminate covered pressed wood top and the humidity in Memphis is causing it to "blister" somewhat around the edges and openings. (Air conditioning the work area is not an option at this time.)


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## Bob N (Oct 12, 2004)

Hi Michael and welcome to the forum. We are glad to have you with us. The granite sounds like a nice option, but I have never tried it.


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## xplorx4 (Dec 1, 2008)

Greetings Michael and welcome to the router forums. The only problem I could see with the granite is it isn't workable by me. Any modifications would have to be made at a stone masons. As for stability you couldn't beat it.


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## Dr.Zook (Sep 10, 2004)

Welcome to the RouterForums Michael.


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## Twill57 (Jun 8, 2009)

I think it would be great idea, but you will need to be able to cut the granite some how to install a router, or router plate. I would guess that you could purchase a remnant at the local counter shop in the size you need, and they should be able to cut the hole for a router plate. Some of these places use cnc machines to do their cutting. It may be a little pricey, but you will get zero humidity caused movement. If you do it, please post pictures. 
By the way, they do make a routers designed for cutting stone.


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Guys

granite for a router table top, I will say you must be joking 

going off the deep end with the flat thing I think ..

for counter tops sounds good but for router table I would say NO

at some point you will need to mount the router to top and that will be a very big job.. with one small crack/chip in the stone will make you very sad I'm sure  it's just a flat rock...

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## jvm59 (Sep 3, 2009)

Greetings,
I am new to routing and have been lurking around this forum for almost a month now. As a tile/stone tradesman I may be able to shed some light on this question.
First off you would probably want to polish and maybe ease the edges simple enough for anyone who can handle a router. You would need a 4 or 5 inch variable speed grinder and pick up some polishing pads. A set of dry pads run around $70.00.
Next is a question; how are you going to mount the top? We typically use silicone. 
So will the vibration over time cause it to release?
Then of course the question is how to mount the router plate. From what I have seen, and I am in no way an expert, plates will be mounted and adjusted with screws.
So with that, if the lip for the plate is around a ½”, how will those holes be drilled? You must cut granite with a diamond bit and a hole that small should, in my opinion be drilled wet. If you use threaded inserts they would have to be, once again my opinion be installed with epoxy for them to stay.
If you use a plate that is 3/8” thick, and slabs are usually 1 ½” thick there should be enough meat left over for support.
It just so happens that I purchased a slab on Friday for my bathroom vanity. I am going there today to pick it up. I have a template of the Rockler router plate so for shoots and giggles I will ask them for a ballpark price to make this cut out and drill the holes.
JVM


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## marblemike (Sep 19, 2009)

A little clarification is in order I think. I am a stone mason. I have been fabricating and installing 2 and 3 centimeter granite slabs for homes and businesses for many years (kitchen counter tops especially.) I will soon have access to a CNC machine which I will use to drill holes, cut miter and t-track slots, cut out edged holes for plates and chamfer the edges (although I am thinking of epoxying a hardwood edge on all around.) Aquiring the material is not a problem (we generate, literally, tons of scrap.) 

Attaching the stone is not a problem either. I could use t-bolts underneath. This would make it removable. But I think I will use epoxy to laminate it to a sub-top. It can be attached to any moble or fixed base.

Granite is harder than steel. It can only be cut with diamond tools. It is very dense so it will have a dampening effect on vibrations. Like cast iron, it can be machined very flat. It can be polished to a high shine, but for a work top it is better to be honed to a matt finish. I have made a face frame clamping table of polished absolute black granite by surrounding it with 80/20 t-track. It has been great. Just take a razor blade to scrape off any glue.

My question really wasn't should I make a granite router table top. It was has anyone in the community done it.

It will be a while before I get the top plotted for the cnc and there may be a "trial and error" period. When I get one, though, I will share the cnc program with everyone. That way someone could take the program to a cnc equiped fabrication shop and say "Here, make this out of a piece of your scrap, please."


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## BigJimAK (Mar 13, 2009)

Mike,

Given that you're a stone mason I hear you asking about its functionality. I've never seen a granite router table (or used a cast-iron top), so this is based upon my intuition.

The mass of granite should make it damp vibration analogous to how cast iron damps it in my unisaw. This is very good. 

Routers turn at very high RPMs and even with precision balancing, there is still some vibration. The one issue I'd focus on is not transferring any "chatter" between the two. I think that would be very do-able with a thin layer of rubber sheeting under the plate and between the plate and the sidewalls. The rubber could be attached to the granite and I'd expect the weight of the router/plate combo would hold the plate in place. The rubber may well not be required but I suspect that, if there was going to be problems, that'd be it.

Please note that I have not delved into any potential impact of the strength of granite in bending where it is unsupported. I trust you have the expertise in that area or know others who do! 

Just my $0.02.. and at a deep discount!


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## penaddict (Jun 13, 2008)

*Here's my granite router table*

Here's my granite router table. My brother knows a granite guy and give him the template for the bench dog router plate to cut the opening. Very flat but you won't have any miter slot on the table top. It measures 24x48.


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## timbertailor (Oct 4, 2009)

If you were insistent on using granite, I would suggest an alternative material like Silestone.

It is not porous and therefore requires no maintenance and wont stain. Second, since it is man made, is far less likely to crack or chip.


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## Mike (Nov 22, 2004)

There is no practicle reason to build a router table from granite, but as you can see someone made one. It sure isn't portable. Whatever makes you happy.


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## radios (Sep 30, 2009)

Mike said:


> There is no practicle reason to build a router table from granite, but as you can see someone made one. It sure isn't portable. Whatever makes you happy.


 other than it won't warp or get scratch marks and is waterproof.(except for stains) it would be best suited for frequent commercial use in a stationary position though. i can't think of anything that would last longer for the price.


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## danconway327 (Sep 30, 2009)

marblemike said:


> Aquiring the material is not a problem (we generate, literally, tons of scrap.) QUOTE]
> 
> Where does one aquire said granite scrap, I am close to Tampa Florida?


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## atmartin23 (Aug 31, 2009)

Mike,

Just my 2 cents;

Ridgid now makes a granite table saw. I was considering upgrading but after some thought i decided to stay with my current Ridgid saw. Reason being its not magnetic. i use alot of different jigs and featherboards that use the "TurnLock" magnets. They are great for quickly, safely, and accurately attaching different jigs to the saw. I can't do that with granite.

i constructed my router table out of 1 1/2 inch high density plastic 2' x4'. What was nice was how easy it was to machine. As i started using it more and more i had to make specific jigs to run in the miter slots (Couldn't use my "Turnlock" magnets). I make due, setup just takes longer sometimes.

If you are going thru with the granite router table. I strongly recommend machining a grove to attach a miter channel. You can purchase the channel on Rockler.com.


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## AlanWS (May 2, 2007)

I would think a router table is less appropriate for granite than some other tool tops are. The advantages of granite are its stability, weight, and flatness. Good granite is a lot stronger than some seem to think it, and not all that brittle. Staining is not a consideration. It seems like a great option for jointer bed and fence, for instance. But the part of the router table that is most important is the part near the bit, and granite is not appropriate there because you don't want the table to be thick there or you lose cut depth. So the benefit of granite seems meager for a router table, but it certainly won't hurt anything but mobility.


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## marblemike (Sep 19, 2009)

Slabs of stone used by all fabricators for cutting out projects for customers always generate remnants or what we in the industry (between ourselves) sometimes call scrap. The waste factor is at least 10% and some times as high as 50%. The variations in color, shade, tone and veining prohibit for the most part the use of this remnant matierial from being used again on the next project. So a remnant may be left that has to wait for a customer that needs a piece that size and color and price to come along to buy it. Obviously, a fabricator's facility can quickly be consumed with this material, so most fabricators simply charge enough to cover the cost of waste and discard it. There are many fabricators that have lots of room for storage that hold on to some of the nicer pieces. Rest assured though that this piece of scrap quickly becomes a partial slab as soon as there is an interested party! However, if you check around your area for stone fabricators, I'll bet you can find some at a very low price or maybe even free. (I have in the past told someone asking for free scrap that they can have some on one condition - that they take it all. That usually ends their search for free scrap.)


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## xvimbi (Sep 29, 2009)

*Go for it!*

I'm a woodworking newbie, and I am not a stone mason either, but I do use granite tables every day for scientific work. They are excellent for when vibrations are an issue, as has already been said. So, for that reason alone I would think a granite table would be fantastic. If vibration minimization is the objective, a granite top by itself won't quite do it, though. One would have to decouple the router from the top, either entirely or at least put some dampening material between the top and the support frame (as has also been mentioned already). Best - MM


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## Kenman101 (May 24, 2009)

I would love to try that! Certainly heavy duty. But the miter track might be a problem.


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## ccmnova (Nov 4, 2009)

That's awesome !! I can't believe you did it !! You have to put these on the market and I'll be the 1st customer.


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## BigJimAK (Mar 13, 2009)

Kenman101 said:


> I would love to try that! Certainly heavy duty. But the miter track might be a problem.


Many (including pros) don't use miter tracks... they use the KISS principle and turn out some amazing work!


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## tdshepard (Nov 8, 2009)

*What about radon?*

Hi, I am just an amateur woodworker. For my day job, I am a nuclear physicist.

Granite contains Uranium ore, which is radioactive, albeit at a low enough level to be considered safe for consumers, at least in the USA.

Over time, the Uranium in the granite should decay, producing Radon as one of the decay products. Radon is a radioactive gas. In some parts of the USA there is concern about accumulation of Radon in basements and crawl spaces. This happens where the soil naturally (or unnaturally) contains minerals such as granite or other Uranium compounds.

I'm not too sure whether the radon produced by a granite power-tool table would ever be an issue, maybe for a shop located in a basement. If it were me, I would do a little research on this issue prior to using Granite in my wood shop.


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## ccmnova (Nov 4, 2009)

Maybe better to use quartz..........


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## Bob N (Oct 12, 2004)

I thought I noticed my kitchen glowing in the dark.... YIKES!


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## bobj3 (Jan 17, 2006)

hahahahahahaha LOL

Who needs night lights in the shop or the basement hahahahahahahaha LOL

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## BigJimAK (Mar 13, 2009)

Hey, Nancy Pelosi will be *proud*!


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## marblemike (Sep 19, 2009)

I will bring up one point about the safety of granite from a life long fabricator's point of view. My father has been handling and cutting granite as an occupation all his life. He is now 84 years old and living with mom in retirement on a piece of land he bought in east Tennessee. Mom washed the granite dust out of his clothes every day. Dad just recently built a small stone bridge over a stream running to the lake on his property.

I think, personally, that working on and walking among all those hundreds of massive slabs of granite all those years protected him from the background radiation. 

Or maybe he is just lucky. I will let others rage on with the debates about the so called problems of granite. For me it is a non issue. (I worry a lot more about how much I like McD's fries.)

On the fabrication of the router table top - the stone can be grooved to receive t-tracks and miter tracks which can be held in place with epoxy or small screws through the stone with nuts and washers. I have intalled many slab wall plaques by just epoxying threaded rod into blind holes. (The 500 lb plaques we hung this way on the block wall outside the pyramid in downtown Memphis 25 years ago are still there.)


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## bassdrum (Nov 3, 2009)

*A new niche market?*

The great part of granite is its never-changing geometry. I think you should go for it, Mike! If you've got the access to CNC to cut the miter slot (my General saw has it cut right in the stone - no insert) and t-slots for a fence, you could probably start a new business for yourself!

Don't post the plans, just sell the product. That'll clear out the scraps!


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## tdshepard (Nov 8, 2009)

There is a cute story behind my radon comment.

Several years ago, I was with a group of scientists touring the Nevada Test Site (where the US did most if its testing of nuclear weapons). Our guide, an old-time weapons designer, pointed out a huge pile of rubble at the base of a hill. The rubble was from an exploratory excavation (to study the underground geology at that location) and contained a lot of granite, which is typical for that area. When the study was completed, they were prohibited from filling up the hole to restore the site to its original condition because the granite was radioactive (as all granite is, though not at a dangerous level). Environmental regulations prohibited the burying of any radioactive material at the site.

Oh well...


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## BigJimAK (Mar 13, 2009)

That reminds me of an environmental case against a proposed hydro dam in Alaska. The agreement was that all of the trees in the area that had to be extracted would be removed whole with a rootball of dirt, wrapped in burlap and kept alive for replanting. A six-month delay in the planning process occurred because "the trees wouldn't be replanted in their original locations", even though the original trees would be replanted.

This reminds me of a notorious video series.. I call it "Greenies gone wild"...


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## billq (Jan 29, 2010)

So... Marblemike...
What exactly would you *charge* for one of these granite tops?
Feel a new business coming on? 

(my radon mitigation system is already installed, though I seriously doubt a 3' x 4' slab would produce enough gas to cause anyone harm)


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