BobS wrote:

You can research the relative strength of almost any joinery technique you
want to use but you will find that most of the time, M&T is selected because
of it's strength. You can certainly use other techniques, such as those
you've pointed out. Do you think it will hold up to hard use or will you be
building another one 6 months from now? A workbench is a really good
project to start learning with. It's a workbench - nobody will notice the
mistakes or care but you will learn a lot by making it the best you can -
and it will serve you well for many, many years to come.

Good points all, and it sounds like what you have is a bench that
really is solid as a rock and a good learning experience as well.
Thanks for the posts.

--Scott