Guide
When a wooden reel can't be reused
A wooden reel can no longer be reused when its structure fails: rotted or missing drum staves, a torn drive hole, a cracked arbor hole or a badly warped flange are the usual causes, and two or more together almost always mean recycling.
Reels are tools. Cable is wound onto them under tension and pulled off them on payoff stands, so a reel that might hold together on the ground can fail when loaded. These are the defects that matter, and how to spot them.
The four main defects
- Rotted or missing staves
- Staves carry the cable. Soft wood, gaps or missing boards mean the drum cannot hold a wind. More than about a quarter missing usually ends reuse; Service Wire's program, for example, requires at least 75% of drum staves intact.
- Torn drive hole
- Powered payoffs turn the reel through a pin in a drive hole. A hole torn into a slot will not hold the pin.
- Cracked arbor hole
- The arbor carries the reel's whole weight on a stand. Cracks running outward from it are a failure waiting to happen.
- Warped flange
- A cupped or twisted flange rubs on payoff stands and makes the reel wobble when it turns.
Lesser problems
- Surface weathering that has greyed the wood but not softened it.
- A single split flange board, if the layer behind it is sound.
- Loose nails that can be pulled or driven back.
- Paint, stencils and old labels.
- Small chips at the flange rim from forks.
How reels get that way
Water does most of the damage. A reel lying flat on the ground holds water in its bottom flange and lowest staves, and freeze-thaw cycles split the wood. Forklifts cause the rest: a tine through a stave, a flange gouged on a dock edge. Storing reels on edge, on timbers, under cover, keeps most of them reusable.
Checking a reel in two minutes
- Look at the bottom of the reel as it stands: rot starts there.
- Press a few staves with your thumb; soft means rot.
- Look at the arbor hole for cracks.
- Look at drive holes for tearing.
- Sight across each flange for warping.
What happens to unusable reels
They go to wood recycling. Steel plates, bolts and nails are separated; the wood is processed for uses such as mulch or fuel, depending on the processor. A reel of untreated wood can sometimes become a garden project, but a structurally failed reel should not become furniture that people sit at.
Where we see the most damage
Reels left in the open through a Chicago winter take the worst of it: wet flanges freeze, thaw and split, and staves near the ground soften by spring. Yards beside the lake and in low ground near the Calumet and Des Plaines rivers see more of it than gravel yards on higher ground. Reels moved under cover in autumn usually come out fine.
Questions
What makes a wooden reel unusable?
Structural failure: rotted or missing staves, a torn drive hole, a cracked arbor or a warped flange.
Can I recycle wooden cable reels?
Yes. Unusable reels are broken down, metal is separated, and the wood goes to recycling.
Will you take a mixed pile of good and broken reels?
Yes. One pickup takes both, with the good reels bought and the broken ones recycled.
Can a damaged reel still become a table?
Sometimes, if the flanges are sound and only staves are missing. A reel with a cracked or rotted flange should not carry weight or be sat at.
Reel words on this page
- Lagging / staves
- The boards nailed around the drum, and the protective boards sometimes nailed across the flanges over finished cable.
- Arbor hole
- The centre hole a spindle, shaft or payoff bar passes through.
- Drive hole
- A smaller hole off-centre in the flange that a drive pin uses to turn the reel.
- Flange
- The round side discs that hold the cable in. Flange diameter, edge to edge, is the size a reel is known by.
- Drum (barrel)
- The cylinder between the flanges that the cable winds around.
Request a pickup or quote
Work order received
- Reference
- Request
Next we read what you sent, sort the reels by tag and condition, and come back with what we buy, where returnables go, and a pickup day for your corridor. If it helps, reply with a photo of the stack and the reel tags.
More reel guides
- What empty reels are worth
Size, build and condition decide it. What gets paid for, and what does not.
- Do supply houses take reels back?
When the counter or the maker behind it takes reels, and what happens to the rest.
- Returnable vs one-way reels
Reading the tag, the stencils and the build to know whose reel it is.
- Which makers take reels back
Published maker return programs, their minimums and their condition rules.
- Reel sizes explained
Flange, drum and traverse, with a size chart from 24 to 96 inches.
- Measuring a reel
Four measurements, one tape and a minute per reel.
- Nailed vs bolted reels
How each is built, why bolted reels make more trips, and how each is handled.
- Disposing of wooden reels
Four ways out for a wooden reel, with the dumpster last.
- Staging reels for pickup
Stand, chock, sort and leave room for the forks.
- Reel weights by size
Empty weights worked out from the wood, and what each means for loading.
- The reel capacity formula
How much cable fits on a reel, worked through step by step.