Nate Perkins asks:

I'm getting ready to build a new workbench to replace my old MDF
beast.

Where I live, hard maple and beech are about the same price (beech is
slightly less). I gather from reading archives that most people
recommend one of these two choices ... but given a roughly equal
price, is there any advantage in one versus the other?

I've worked hard maple but have never used beech.

Beech is what might be called a shifty wood. Fagus grandifolia is American
beech, AKA red beech, white beech, winter beech. It needs great care in
seasoning because of its high shrinkage rate. It is also not stable after it is
seasoned. Still, it makes good flooring, butcher blocks, chairs, handles and
other items. Given a choice between Acer saccharum and beech, I'd jump on the
maple every time. It needs rapid drying to prevent stain, but seasons well and
is a fairlys table wood after seasoning. It makes superb floors and is used in
bowling alleys and pins because of its hardness and stability.

It's hard to find green around here (central VA), and is expensive otherwise,
even in the straightgrained, plain wood you want for a workbench, but is a fine
wood that takes a very, very smooth finish.
Charlie Self
"When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that
it is his duty." George Bernard Shaw, Caesar and Cleopatra (1901)