Being a work bench, with work being the key word, I really don't see any big
working advantage to a maple top. My present bench is now about 15 years old
and is made up of laminated fir. Works just fine and If it gets messed up,
dinged, dented, spilled on, needs a hole here or there, etc I'd don't
cringe, just sand/plane it down every few years. .

--
Mike G.

Heirloom Woods
www.heirloom-woods.net
"Guy LaRochelle" wrote in message
...
I have been studying everyones work benches and noticed that most of them
are built out of maple. I understand that maple is very hard but I don't
think it is readily available where I live (Sask, Canada). Birch is very
common here but is it anywhere close to being as hard as maple? Does
anyone
see anything wrong with using birch for a work bench? Regards. -Guy