Need Help with Material Selection

[Jeremy Kargas]

I'm going to be building the Ultimate Tool Stand shortly and would like your input on material selection. Here are the options:
MDF - Complete pain in the but to work with and I really don't want to, but it's flat and makes for a nice heavy stand.
Birch Plywood (C Grade) - Not the nicest stuff, but will work. Not too sure about how flat the torsion box will end up being, but will look better than MDF when a finish is put on.
Particle Board - Again, a pain to work with, but cheaper than the above two options and seems to be about as flat as MDF.
In regards to finish, I'm either going to paint (MDF or PB options) or just throw a couple coats of varnish or oil of some sort (BP option). Any help is appreciated!

Jeremy

[Paul Demetropoulos]

Plywood is both stronger and lighter than mdf or pb and is superior for screw holding. I make all my shop stands out of plywood and dimensional lumber.

[David DeCristoforo]

I try to stay away from these questions because I always say something like "MDF??? That's garbage. Why on earth would you want to make anything out of that crap? And PB... even worse." which gets some folks riled up because they think I'm being opinionated. Go figure. So I just don't say anything.....

[Joe Chritz]

I am not familiar with that plan but if it is a regular torsion box top, MDF is pretty hard to beat for that. For case, legs or shelves the plywood is by far the superior product. Better strength and resistance to getting bang apart or sagging under weight.

Once you build the torsion box the webbing holds the skins flat so the only way it could be out of flat is differences in thickness of the plywood panels. That is very possible but the amount is so small as to be a non issue completely.

Joe