Selling a few wooden spools

How small lots get bought

A truck doesn't cross the metro for two spools. It does stop for two spools when it is already in your area. That's how small lots work: we add your stop to the next corridor day that passes nearby, and the spools ride with a contractor's yard or a plant's dock down the road.

Sound spools are bought. Worn ones can go to recycling on the same stop, so you don't have to sort them first.

What to send

• How many spools, and roughly how big (measure the flange edge to edge).
• A photo of each, or of the group.
• Your ZIP and where the spools are: garage, yard, driveway.
• Whether you can roll them to the curb or the alley.

Are wooden spools worth any money?

Some are. A clean 36 or 48-inch one-way spool with flat flanges and sound staves has a buyer. A small spool on its own is worth little, and a rotted one is worth nothing for reuse. The guide on what empty reels are worth goes through it size by size.

Three typical small sellers

A homeowner in Skokie with two 30-inch spools left by an electrician after a panel upgrade. A florist in Berwyn with a 36-inch spool used as a display stand that has started to wobble. A retired contractor in New Lenox with nine mixed reels in a pole barn, some sound, some soft.

All three get the same treatment: a photo, a quote, and a stop on the next corridor day nearby. The florist's wobbly spool is recycled; the others are bought.

Where small spools come from

Most small sellers got their spools from a job: a new electrical service, a generator, a fence, a well pump, an EV charger. The electrician left the empty spool behind, or a neighbour did. Others have a spool table that has seen better days, or bought a property with a stack of reels in the barn.

Whatever the story, the questions are the same: how big, what shape, and where. Measure the flange edge to edge and check the staves and arbor hole. If the drum still has cable on it, the cable is yours to remove or keep.

Dropping off instead

Some sellers would rather bring spools to a truck than wait for one. If you are near a corridor-day stop and can carry the spools, ask: a meeting point on the day can be arranged when it suits the route.

Questions

Will you buy just two or three wooden spools?

Yes, when a corridor day passes your area. Small lots ride with bigger pickups nearby.

Are empty wooden spools worth any money?

Sound one-way spools of 30 inches and up usually are. Small or rotted spools are worth little or nothing for reuse, but can still be recycled.

Do I have to be home?

Not if the spools are outside and reachable, and the count is agreed in advance.

What do you do with empty wooden cable reels from a home project?

Sound ones are bought and put back into service. Worn ones are recycled. Either way, they leave on the corridor-day truck.

Can I drop spools off?

Sometimes. Ask, and we tell you whether a meeting point on a corridor day works for your area.

Will a rotten spool in my yard still get picked up?

Yes. Rotten or broken spools go to wood recovery on the same stop as the sound ones, which saves a separate bulk-trash call or a trip to a transfer station.

Do apartment dwellers or renters use this?

Sometimes, when a landlord or contractor leaves spools in a shared yard. Check with whoever owns them before selling, then send the photo and ZIP.

Reel words on this page

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.

Traverse

The inside width between the flanges: how wide a layer of cable can be.

Arbor hole

The centre hole a spindle, shaft or payoff bar passes through.

Lagging / staves

The boards nailed around the drum, and the protective boards sometimes nailed across the flanges over finished cable.

One-way reel

A reel nobody is collecting. Once empty, it belongs to whoever holds it.