New Adventure Sighted on the Horizon!

There is a fairly significant amount of tree on my garage floor right now:
Shes a beaut, aint she? I just got back from Carltons with a roof rack loaded with these pieces. Ive been thinking about building a new workbench for some time now and was finally able to pull the trigger. The left-most piece is 8/4 maple for the legs and stretchers. The middle two pieces are 4/4 maple for the apron and tool tray. The right piece is a big old slab of sycamore felled 10 years ago in Blue Ridge, Ga. Its a little over 2" thick, pretty punky, rather irregular, and not exactly what one would call flat. In other words, the top of this bench might be a bit of a challenge.
Heres the cut plan:
The far end and the right side (with the "arm" sticking out") will be scrapped and used for odds and ends. The middle section will be the primary tabletop and then there will be a tool tray between the middle and left side sections. Im going to leave the waney edge on the left side because A) this will be the back side of the bench so it doesnt really need to be straight, and B) who doesnt love a little bark on a functional piece? I know I certainly do.
Here we have an "in progress" shot of the top. 
Im working with my #4 smooting plane here, because thats the best I have for the job right now. I just won a jack plane (#5 1/2 Stanley) and a jointer plane (#7 Stanley) on eBay and hopefully they will be arriving soon. They will also provide a good opportunity for a post on how I tune up planes. If the above photo was a video with sound youd hear the #4 muttering "I aint made for this $#!T," which is certainly true.
More shots:
Those last two pics really highlight the spalting thats going on with this sycamore. The wood is definitely softer in those areas but Richard at Carltons showed me a product that he claims will actually harden the wood...we shall see. Its Minwax Wood Hardener and its marketed to people who would prefer to salvage their rotten porch steps than replace them. Thats noble, I suppose. Richard showed me a sample of wood he had hardened and while I didnt test its hardness, I will say that I was satisfied with its appearance. It slightly darkened the wood, but it still looked pretty good. I think Ill try the stuff out once everything starts coming together.
Ryan Adams influence?:

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