Resale or recycling?
A reel resells when its flanges are flat and whole, every stave is in place, the arbor hole is round and the wood is dry and sound. Rot, a split flange, missing staves or a torn arbor hole send it to wood recycling instead. Most yards have both kinds in one stack, and a pickup takes both.
The checks, in order
| Check | Passes | Fails |
|---|---|---|
| Flanges | Flat when you sight across them, every board present | A split through the face, missing boards, a warp you can see |
| Drum staves | Tight, no gaps, firm under a screwdriver | Loose, missing or soft at the base |
| Arbor hole | Round, clean edges | Torn, oval, burned or split out to the edge |
| Drive hole | Present and round | Torn into the arbor hole |
| Wood | Dry, grey or brown, no mould | Black, crumbling, wet through, fungus |
| Hardware | Bolts tight, nails flush | Bolts missing, nails pulled out on the face |
| Ownership | No owner's stencil or tag | Stencilled: goes back to its owner |
Why these checks
They are the same things a cable maker checks before reusing a reel. Service Wire's reel return, for example, accepts only reels with sound wood and undamaged arbor and drive holes, because a reel with a torn hole cannot spin true on a payoff stand and a reel with rotten wood cannot carry cable safely. Contractors who buy used reels to wind their own cable need the same. Makers and gardeners are more forgiving, which is why a cosmetic flaw still sells and structural damage does not.
Signs of each in a Southern California yard
Sun is the usual enemy here, not rain. Reels left out for a summer go grey, check along the grain and shrink so nails stand proud. That is cosmetic; the reel still resells. Water is what ruins them: a reel stood in a low corner where sprinklers or winter rain pool will rot at the bottom of both flanges and the lowest staves. A reel dragged by a forklift through a gravel yard will have chewed flange edges; a reel lifted through the arbor hole on a single fork tine will have an oval, torn hole.
Resale: where it goes
Sound reels go to contractors who wind their own cable, hose or rope, to growers and nurseries, to pallet and crate shops, and to makers and event planners. Bolted reels in good condition are the most useful. Nailed reels in good condition sell for lighter use. See used cable reels for the buying side.
Recycling: where it goes
Reels that fail are broken down. Bolts, nuts and arbor plates come off for scrap metal; nails come out with the wood and are pulled by magnets at the recycler. The wood goes to a wood recycler for mulch, biomass fuel or engineered products, depending on its grade. Plywood is sorted apart because of its glue. The reel recycling page covers the pickup side.
Grading your own stack
You don't need to. Count by flange, note roughly how many look rough, and send photos of the best and the worst. Choose sell on the request if most look sound, recycle if most don't. We grade every reel at sorting anyway, and a mixed stack goes on one truck.
Keep good reels good
Stand them off the ground on their flanges or on edge with chocks, never in a puddle, and lift them through the arbor hole with a bar or both forks, not one tine. A reel that is sound today and stored badly for a winter becomes a recycling reel by spring.
Words on this page
- Flange
- The round end of a reel; its diameter (24 to 96 inches and up) is how reels are sized, sorted and loaded.
- Stave
- One of the boards fixed around the drum between the flanges; loose or missing staves weaken a reel.
- Arbor hole
- The centre hole a reel stand's spindle goes through; a torn or oval arbor hole takes a reel out of service.
- Drive hole
- A smaller hole beside the arbor hole that a reel stand's drive pin turns the reel by.
- Nailed reel
- A one-way reel held together with nails; the usual reel for building wire, mostly resold for light use or recycled.
- Bolted reel
- A heavier reel held together with through-bolts, used for utility and large cable; often returnable.
- Stencil
- The owner's name painted on a flange; a stencilled reel may belong to its maker or distributor.
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Grading questions
Is a reel with a little rot at the bottom resellable?
For cable, no. For a garden or a rustic build, sometimes, if the rot is shallow and the rest is sound. We grade it at sorting.
Does a stencil make a reel worth less?
An owner's stencil means it isn't ours to sell; it goes back to the owner. A maker's printed label or paint just narrows the buyers a little.
Do you pay for resellable reels?
It depends on the sizes, the condition and the count. We talk about value when we know what you have; see what reels are worth.