butcher block desk top

If you're talking about end-grain hard maple it will stand up for decades as a factory floor with fork lifts running over it ahe heavy machinery being dragged across it and all sorts of weird and exciting subtances being spilled on it.

If you don't have a wide-platen drum or belt sander though getting a flat surface could be problematical.

Maple planking will be just fine for the purpose and since it can go through a planer without the tearout that you get with end grain getting a flat surface is a lot simpler.

The easiest, and cheapest would be the style that uses long pieces of wood vs. the self healing end grain style.

The hard maple would do very well for a writing surface but be sure that you do get hard maple.

Just personal preference but I wouldn't like a butcher block top for a desk, too busy. Don't worry about the crayon, it comes off of everything except carpeting...

I think I must be missing something here.If you are going to paint this why not just use some quality grade plywood and cover the open side with a hardwood banding?

This is what he is building

If you shoot several coats of poly on hard maple it will suffer the slings and arrows of outragious correspondece for years. I did my kitchen counter tops this way a few years ago and my family can't seem to hurt them.

I made up my maple desk top out of maple flooring. It is about 80" x

It works fine for me, but if I slide my fingers across the planks, I can feel each joint. It isn't enough to cause any problems writing on a piece of paper. Part of the problem may be the crappy wood they use in flooring, and part of it maybe that I only put 4 or 5 coats of polyurethane on the bottom and many more coats on the top.

Regards, Ed