yep, I have used walnut, pine, and maple. No rust yet. I also use plastic.. I made a MR Pete type of drill/tap index for fast access. it has proved invaluable, made it out of a corporate display of some sort that I got at a garage sale they had a lot of metal and plastics. it was thick lucite..Wood works well for holding steel if you treat it with some oil. Avoid wood that has higher tannic acid content, oak!