I did a similar bench top using 3/4 inch exterior plywood. I glued the layers together and then screwed them together to draw them tight. Once the glue had set I removed the screws. I hate the idea of having metal in the benchtop.
Then I glued and screwed a hickory 1x2 round three sides, and again once the glue was dried I pulled the screws. But with the hardwood facing I drilled and pegged each of the screw holes to make sure everything was 'right and tight'.
This way I can use nails and/or screws with wood blocks as bench dogs. If I should be sawing something and the blade dips into the benchtop I know it will not contact metal and mess up the blade. The whole benchtop gets painted every few months when I wanna cover the pencil notes and math calculations.
