Reply by OggieOglethorpe

If you plan to use hand tools, slippery surfaces aren’t good. A little traction helps the work stay in place.

Holdfasts, planing stops, bench hooks, etc… all work better on a raw or nearly raw wood surface.

The fewer clamps and levers you need to turn each time you move the work, the faster your work goes. A draggy surface can be the different between needing one holdfast or several, or needing to add clamps to a stop.