Hi,
My 5 cents worth. I use upcycled wood from pallets. Care must be taken to select know free lengths, but the length of an E pallet is 1.2 meters, perfect length. I have done 3 Benches, all of them look great. The pallets that are ideal are ones from oil companies. The ones that are used to deliver 4 x 44 gal Drums of engine oil to garages.