A quick thanks to all who responded so far.

I wasn't thinking about standing the shorts on their side, but
that makes some sense. With the larger boards, I might get
two pieces out of them. Just want about a 6 ft bench top, so
that would work with the material I have.

My approach was towards a "bowling alley" approach. A friend
of mine had built several benches with maple alley material salvaged
from a defunct lane. I was going in that direction.

MJ