Nailed reels and bolted reels

How to tell them apart in a minute

Stand in front of a flange face and look around the drum. A ring of hex nuts and washers, usually six to twelve of them, means through-bolts run from one flange to the other, clamping the drum between them. A square or round steel plate around the arbor hole is another sign of a bolted build. If all you see are rows of nail or staple heads where the planks cross the battens, it is a nailed reel.

Size helps too. Most 24 to 42 inch reels in a contractor's yard are nailed, because building wire ships on them. From 60 inches up, bolted builds become common, because utility and medium-voltage cable is heavy and the reel has to survive a crane, a pulling rig and a trailer ride while full.

What each one is built for

Why it matters for a pickup

On the truck, nothing changes. Small reels lie flat in stacks, large ones stand on edge in two staggered rows, every one chocked and strapped. The difference comes at sorting. Nailed reels are graded for resale or recycling on condition alone. Bolted reels are first checked for an owner's stencil, because many belong to a cable maker or distributor that wants them back. Unmarked bolted reels in good shape are some of the most useful reels we pass on, to contractors who need a sturdy reel for their own cable and to growers and makers who want something that will last outdoors.

Cable makers' own return programs often favour one type. Service Wire's program, for instance, takes back its nailed wood reels from 30 to 72 inches, but only in full truckloads, and only when the wood is sound and the arbor and drive holes are undamaged. A yard with a mixed stack is where a pickup makes more sense; see take-back programs.

Taking a bolted reel apart

Some yards break bolted reels down to save space. If you do, loosen the nuts evenly around the ring rather than one at a time, because the flanges are under clamp load and can shift as the last bolts come out. Old nuts are often rusted on; penetrating oil and a long breaker bar are safer than a grinder near dry wood. A 72 inch flange on its own can weigh well over a hundred pounds, so lay it down flat rather than letting it fall. Stack loose flanges flat and drums on end, and tell us on the request that the reels are broken down.

What a nailed reel is worth

Plainly: not much each, which is why it matters that a run collects them cheaply in bulk. A clean nailed 36 inch reel with an intact arbor hole has buyers. A nailed reel that has sat in the rain and lost staves goes to recycling. The what reels are worth page explains how condition sets value.

Grading after the run

Back at sorting, each reel gets the same three checks whatever its build: are the flanges flat and whole, is the arbor hole round and unsplit, and is the wood dry and sound? Nailed reels that pass go to buyers for light reuse. Bolted reels that pass, with no owner's mark, go to contractors and growers who need a strong reel. Anything that fails a check is broken down for wood recycling, nails and bolts removed by magnet and hand.