My bench is yellow pine, I just picked up some 2x4's at the lumber yard and put it together from those. Took me a while to find nice wood, but I just ran them through the jointer and I was good to go. It was the first thing I built when I moved here, because a workbench is so useful. Someday I'll build one out hardwood, but my budget was small for this bench.

I know what you mean with the dust hoods. A few of mine I can see would suck pretty hard (pun intended) when attached to a dust collection system. Machinery aside, I find some of the best tools you use you can make yourself (like your dust hoods).