Hell yeah. Then get you some thin corner molding to cover the front lip. That will keep screws and such from rolling off when you forget to put them in a little tin or something.
Mine is a little bit of a hodgepodge but my main work areas are just plywood wrapped in heavy vinyl contact paper for shelving. If I'm through drilling something I've got a chunk of board I clamp to the edge and if I'm doing hot work I have a silicone mat I put down.
It's beat but it's a work bench and it's light colored so I don't lose small stuff.
It's probably about due for a new layer but as long as it isn't creating dirt or giving me slivers I'll probably leave it for a while.
You can do that and it will look good but if you're anything like me, you'll probably want to go to home depot and buy some clear plastic (I use 24in wide runners) and put it over top the clean surface. That way any spills or hot solder droppings etc mess up the plastic runner and when the runner gets grungy enough you can take it off and put down a new one and your work bench is clean as a whistle again. I screw my runners down so they can't move.
I have two workbenches, one in my garage and one out in the shed. In both cases, they are covered with 3/4" plywood and then on top of the plywood has either 1/8" hardboard or 1/2" MDF as a protection layer.
This way as the surface starts to get beat up I can simply remove a few screws and put on a new top layer.