I decided to start small with the woodworking projects using the old-growth pine from the Hub, but the first is finished, and the second will be before the weekend is out (I hope). Pieces #001 and #002 are identical 18" long book racks made from original 1897 store shelving. The picture left shows 001 complete and the pieces for 002 cut, sanded and ready to be stained and assembled.
The basic design for the rack comes from a pine book rack than my dad and I built when I was in graduate school.
That rack was sized for paperbacks, while the Hub one is larger - although technically sized for legal rulebooks it's the right size for hardbacks as well. The shelf and back are slanted as on the original, but the sides are not cut on a slant - I thought the rack should sit flat. Also, the gap between the shelf and back is deliberate - 23 years experience with the old book rack has taught me that joining them together just creates a trap for dust and dirt. There are no screws or nails used in the construction - everything is
held together using "biscuits", which are the little pieces of wood
shown in the picture. They are glued into the slots shown in the racks
and then the whole thing is clamped together. I've always wanted to
learn how to build furniture using biscuits (I could have used dowels
as well) and now I have.
The shelf on each is an original Hub shelf which has an odd characteristic that I wanted to preserve - the original stain is still on the edge but is not the surface of the shelf - the Hub shelving was never stained or painted on its flat face, since the constant in and out of shoe boxes would have marred the finish. I stained the other pieces of the rack to match the original stain. The pieces have a 
plaque with the Hub logo and "Marshall, Texas" taken directly from a the logo on the 1924 deed of sale from original owner Mose Weisman to his nephew Louis Weisman Kariel, Sr. 
I modified the text a bit, since I won't be selling "shoes, boots and rubbers".
The ends of the book rack have a vertical card holder (sized for a business card) and a oiled bronze bin pull. Both came from the card holders and bin pulls used on the original store's bin drawers, shown in this 1908 photo (look at bottom right). 
We discovered that three of the original bins (two still with labels) had been built into a shoe repair bench
that is still in the store , so I copied the holders and pulls on the ends. They actually have a practical use, as you can carry the racks around easily - even with books in them - since the bin pulls are at the center of gravity. They are also useful for pulling and pushing the racks around (they have felt pads on the bottom). I am hoping to renovate the old shoe repair bench as a stand-up desk for my office, but that's a few projects down the road.
The wood is wonderfully distressed from its 113 years (that we know of) of use, and it is amazing how different the wood is from current pine - these old-growth boards are almost half hardwood, and I can definitely tell the difference pushing them through the table saw. It reminds me of when Daddy and I built a slightly modified version of the book rack above for my co-clerk Kay Lynn Brumbaugh back in 1993. We decided to fancy it up a bit by using oak (we also cut an angle on the front of the sides, which is where this slant-cut comes from, although it's a different profile from Kay Lynn's), and it was a very different experience trying to cut hardwood when you are used to pine.
But these have been a lot of fun, and I hope their new users like them. One is headed out the door as a gift in the next few days, and the other is being donated as an auction item at the Trinity Episcopal School gala next weekend. Assuming I get it done this weekend...
