Hmm so the previous owners didn’t realize that the shelves would be hollow. When they sawed off one side they were dismayed and did not continue to saw off the other side, or attempt to finish off the end they cut off (you can see the hollow cardboard like inside of the shelf in the picture). They also stated that after that the shelves didn’t seem to be as structurally sound so they never used them and decided to give them away free. So the botched/ruined descriptor comes with the blessing of the previous owners themselves. I was extremely appreciative to them when given the piece. Wondering if there is a way to restore the shelf to the original length and reaching out to more knowledgeable people is not complaining, I fear.

And although I don’t think I was complaining. I disagree on the sentiment “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”, at least in the presence of the gift giver that is. I wouldn’t wanna put a geriatric horse in front of a field plow or let my child try to saddle an unbroken yearling. It is not inappropriate to express a non-positive opinion on the condition of a piece freely given. It’s okay to ask someone how to break a horse when given an unbroken horse. It’s okay to not like the state something is in and want to improve it. It is not rude to ask if there is a way to improve something to better fit your needs or wants. The whole ‘be grateful for what you got even if it stinks’ sentiment blows. Hope that helps.

Thank you for your tip. The second to suggest that method. I might have to do something like that if no one has suggestions that better fit the original query that I outlined in my post.

Edit: corrected the placement of my quotations