For those thinking of building a hacker bench, I thought I'd show mine to give some ideas. Frame is AD red oak mortise and tenon(handcut of course{with large gaps of course }). Anyway, the oak probably cost me about $20 and the ash top was about $17 (local sawyers with portable bandmills RULE ). I got two vises on the way for the front and end. Also coming up soon, mahogany, maple and brass plow plane, should be done in a few days, weeks, years, sometime around there .
http://www.freepichosting.com/Albums/421585159.html
The piece of oak at the end is a bench hook for planing.