Gino wrote:

I wish there was a rec.woodworking.constructiongrade.softwoods.

I can't afford much hardwood and have seen some beautiful stuff made
with 'junk'
softwood lumber. But I also realise there are tricks to using the
stuff that
don't apply to the pampered, dried, stored indoors hardwoods.

I would love to see more project pictures and talk about creating
with SPF from
the back lot.

Well, it's not exactly SPF, but I built my workbench mostly out of
SYP 2x4's and 2x12's. And to tie into the original poster's question,
why not just make the extra effort and have a stable bench that will
last? I built mine with the idea that I'd build a "dream bench" later,
but now that I've used it for a few years, I expect I'll keep it
indefinitely: http://uweb.txstate.edu/~cv01/bench03.jpg
Chuck Vance