I just completed a bench build, and this is the first decent bench I've had to work on. I was about to begin work restoring some tools when it occured to me that it might be a bad idea to use my bench for that. The reason I was concerned is that I remember seeing some projects ruined because guys had used steel wool on a project on the bench, and the next project somehow picked a little of that up. The steel wool became apparent as it rusted during the finishing stage of the project, and it was basically ruined.
I'm not sure what kinds of things are ill-advised on a woodworking bench, so I thought I would ask before I did something I shouldn't. The specific project I had in mind was putting a wire wheel on a grinder and clamping it to my bench so that I could start removing some rust from tools. I thought about the metal particles flying off and remembered the steel wool story.
I'm a newb, so this concern could be completely unfounded, but I wanted to ask what stuff I should avoid doing on/near the bench before I did something I would later regret. It was a lot of work to build, so I don't want to effectively ruin it or a future project.
D