Need a product recommendation -- Garage Countertops

[Dave Gray]

We were in the process of redoing our kitchen during this Corona thing, so while we're kinda stuck there, I have been moving all of the old cabinets into the garage to make myself a nice work space and storage.

I have cut and placed a piece of plywood for the countertop.

I would ideally like to finish the plywood with something that will make it smooth and level.

Ideally, this would be a 2-part epoxy, but that seems like a lot of work.  I'm going to sand it down, but there are still knots and things like that.  I'm afraid that traditional coats of polyurethane won't be enough to fill and smooth...and I have questions about the hardness of it after it dries.  But it may work if I put on a bunch of coats.

Is there some product that's kinda between a clear-coat and an epoxy coating?  I just have no experience in this part of it.

[Brian Fein]

How about vinyl flooring tile?
It is self adhesive and easy to install and can look however you want.

[fyo]

Dave, I had a plywood workbench in my old house that was just coated with a few layers of shellac. Shellac will fill out dents easily. Worked great, but did develop scratches a bit more easily than I liked. I also forgot to seal the bottom side which caused some warping over the years. My current workbench is my old kitchen countertop of edge-glued oak with a Tried and True polymerized linseed oil finish. I took nearly 10 years of abuse in the kitchen without a hitch, but I haven't used it as a workbench for long enough to gauge its mettle. It was going in the trash otherwise, though, so even if I have to find something else down the road, this was free.

Depending on the finish you want, you could use bedliner. A friend of mine swears by his steel sheet covered bench, although you could easily substitute aluminum. Personally, I find metal finishes noisy as heck and I'd rather go for Brian's vinyl (or linoleum) if you are looking for something to slap on top of the wood.