Lowes carries something they call White Hardboard Wall Panel.

link

Sorry I have no suggestions for vertical drilling, because I always use my Shopsmith, with its horizontal boring capability and length of piece is not an issue.

They are high carbon steel with no stainless steel in them is why they're rusting.
Get a green scrubby & some Simple Green cleaner to de-rust them, then coat lightly with 3 in 1 oil.
Turn some new wood handles for them & you're good to go.

I'm thinking of building a workbench actually the one in Fine Woodworking. It calls for 3 1/2 inch strechers and legs out of cherry and maple top. I have enough 16/4 cherry in the basement to do the legs or a couple of the stretchers.

However I need to buy more. So am I better off to get the 16/4 to finish the rest or should I get 8/4 and do a glue up? Would the glue up be stronger than the 16/4 because of the slight lamination effect?

Up next, I need a poor man's vertical drilling rig for the hanger bolts!

Can you share an image of the sort of table you're thinking of? A search for "Pembroke drop-leaf end table" results in a fairly wide range of tables.

First and foremost let me say thank you to your son for his service to our country.

Secondly, I absolutely love these. Very well done.

http://www.reade.com/resources/particle-...sion-chart

Well, you could include an obvious flaw to negate comments like that.

John those are