re: My Workbench Build

I like cottonwood.
It is considered a hard wood, but it isn’t actually much harder than pine in my opinion.
There are two things to watch for from my experience when working with cottonwood though.
1. Make sure your tools are sharp. If they are not, you’ll get grainy tearout that will feather it up so bad that it’s hard to sand it completely flat without sanding half the wood away.
2. It is said that cottonwood takes a certain smell from the soil surrounding the roots. Most of the time, I think the smell while cutting it smells similar to beeswax. Other times though it smells like a cow backed up to it and done it’s business. After working it and applying finish, there is no noticeable smell at all.