This isn't really a soapbox, and you're not my sister. Actually this is an old shipping crate that my sister requested be turned into a shelf. Or more accurately, a shelf put into a box.
The problem with old stuff like this is you can never be entirely sure of the longevity to begin with and can't ensure it much without really effecting the overall look. That and the risk of causing more damage. Especially something as kind of "flimsy" as this with really dry old wood.
I was going try an attempt at removing all the nails so that I could glue some cracks then rebuild the whole thing with glue in the butt joints. But, with the whole fragility factor I opted against it. There's no way I wasn't going to do more damage.
The only reasonable solution was to add more nails. I drilled pilot holes to help ensure no more cracking, shoved in some saw dust and wood glue, then drove in some small dingy ring shank nails I found in my grandpas old little tool cabinet. They match the look pretty well. The last thing I would want on something like this is new shiny nail heads. (not pictured)
The shelf was another thing altogether. While the crate will have some stuff in it, it's not going to be anything heavy, just small decorations and trinkets. With this the problem here is that the thinness of the wood really give much for a shelf to hang on to. Using thicker wood, would give more surface space for glue, but then the whole thing would look center heavy. The weight of the shelf pulling down in the middle combined with the thinness of the sides might cause the whole thing to bow.
Luckily I had some reclaimed oak fence rails that fit the aging of the create. I sanded them a tad to get some of the surface graying off, then cut a couple isosceles triangles to act as braces for the shelf. This will spread the load on the sides to help with bowing, and provide a lot more surface to work with, without compromising the look.
I glued and clamped them into place then shot some pin nails into them from the outside. I hadn't planned this entire thing too well so I ran out of pin nails, opted for staples figuring it would fit the look...I should have known better. They don't look great, but they don't look new and shiny so I'm ok with it.
One thing I did to somewhat hide the pin nails and staples was to punch them below the surface and then spot dab some water on them to swell the wood up around the heads. It works well enough for this.
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