MDF Medium Density Fiberboard) is great stuff but will get dinged out in short order. If you want to get fancy, cut a 4x8 to 3x8, rip a few 2" strips from the left over waste and use this to support under the the orginial board every 18" and around the edges (glue and screw everything). Than laminate the entire thing (you can usually get either an off color or damaged piece of laminate from your local home supply store cheap). This will take you a litte bit of time, but the results are welll worth it. Smooth, nearly perfectly flat and very durable bench top. OSB is a cheap subsitute if you only want to use it once or twice, just go to a local building site and get some scraps for free.

Previously I've made storage shelves topped with plywood. For building my
: next boat, I'm thinking of building workbenches using some sort of a
: compressed-wood fibreboard product I've seen. (It's a pale yellow color,
: with wood chips visible in the smooth finish.) This material (at 1/2"
: thick) looked strong enough to span the 2' width I'm planning for my
: tables. (It was also cheap, at $10 per 4x8 sheet.) I don't know what MDF
: or OSB are (material? strength? appearance?), so any comments on what I
: should look for or what MDF and OSB are would be appreciated. Perhaps I
: should stick with some good plywood?
: Bob