Welding Table Top Material?

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Hi everyone.I'm in the process of fabricating a basic welding table for home usage. There is some good, interesting information on this site that has helped me a lot, thank you. However,  the welding table at work, needs a new top and I'm looking for some information that I haven't been able to findI work at a shop that builds custom spars and fittings for sail and power boats. We deal in Stainless, Aluminum, and to a lesser extent Bronze.The previous foreman had used a piece of 1/4 aluminum. I would assume 5xxx series.  This worked fine for small parts, but lately we have been building larger, more critical parts and table top that isn't dead flat makes these parts time consuming and expensive to build to spec.My Question:  What is the best material for a welding table top used exclusively on SS and AL alloys?Any help would be great.Cheers, JoshLast edited by LTD; 11-21-2010 at 05:47 PM.Reason: spelling
Reply:Are you making one for home, or work?City of L.A. Structural; Manual & Semi-Automatic;"Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined. Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from ore."Job 28:1,2Lincoln, Miller, Victor & ISV BibleDanny
Reply:If you can afford it, WE have a couple of table tops made out of Inconel Plate. It is high though.
Reply:I've got a nice slab A36 I'm going use at home.  This discussion is for the table top at work.Good call on the Inco, I don't know very much about it though.  I think it's similar to 3xx stainless, but better with high temps?   Probably out of the price range for a small company like us.  Thanks for the imput.
Reply:If you want flat, it ain't gunna be cheap!!!  Ferris alloy's I would stay away from because you don't want to contaminate the material.They make a what's called aluminum tooling plate, which is a cast plate and fairly flat and straight.CR
Reply:Who's they?I've only heard of tooling plates in terms of very accurate machined surface for machining operations and layout. What you described sounds suitable for sure . I'll look into that.I know its pretty common to use a steel table for welding anything, high end tig work included. Just want to find the optimal material for hardness, accuracy, cleanliness, etc.
Reply:Here's a source:https://www.yarde.com/catalog/cat119.htmlCR
Reply:I know this is an old thread but if anybody else is looking for info on this it is also called aluminum Jig plate used for making welding fixtures and jigs.