Spools for farm and garden

Why growers want spools

Small and mid-size wooden spools are useful on farms, in market gardens and in back yards for the same reason they are useful on job sites: they hold long, flexible things neatly and pay them out without kinks. Hose, drip irrigation line, polywire and polytape for electric fencing, barbed or smooth fence wire, baler twine and rope all wind onto a spool. A spool on a pipe through its arbor hole becomes a reel stand that unrolls fence wire as you walk the line. The same spool, stood on its flange, is a low potting bench or a stand for a water trough.

Sizes that suit farm and garden use

• 12- to 18-inch spools. Light, carried in one hand. Good for polywire, twine, small hose and drip line. Plywood spools of this size often have a 2-inch arbor hole; nailed spools usually 3⅛ inches.
• 24-inch spools. The most useful size for garden hose and for paying out fence wire from a bar. Southwire's N-5 plywood reel, for example, is 23¾ x 17 x 12 inches and weighs 20 pounds empty.
• 30- to 36-inch reels. Hold a lot of rope or wire, and work as low tables, planters and stands. Heavier: Southwire lists 66 pounds for its 30 x 22 x 16 nailed reel.
• Bigger reels. Used on larger farms as bases for water tanks, feed stations or shade platforms, and for heavy wire. They need machinery to move.

Plain wood matters here

Garden use raises one question more than any other: is the wood safe near food plants and animals? Most cable reels are plain softwood and plywood, built as packaging. Some export reels carry a stamp showing the wood was heat treated, which uses heat alone. A few reels are painted or treated with preservatives. For vegetable beds, chicken runs and anything animals might chew, ask for plain, unpainted, unstamped reels, and sand off stencil paint. Plastic spools are an option for wet, muddy places where wood would rot, but they become brittle in sunlight over a few seasons.

Turning a spool into a hose or wire reel

1. Pick a spool whose drum is wide enough not to kink the hose or wire; a tight drum on stiff fence wire leaves it curled.
2. Slide a length of pipe or a solid bar through the arbor hole. Check the bar diameter against the hole: 3⅛-inch holes take a 3-inch pipe with some play.
3. Set the bar across two posts, sawhorses or a frame so the spool turns freely.
4. Fasten the inner end of the hose or wire to the drum, through a hole or with a staple, before winding.
5. Store the spool off the ground when not in use, so the bottom flange does not soak up water.

Spool planters and stands

A reel standing on one flange makes a round bench or plant stand. For a planter, line the space between the flanges with landscape fabric and fill with soil, leaving the top flange off or cutting a ring in it. Seal the wood if you want it to last more than a season or two. A row of mid-size reels makes a quick display stand for a farm market, and they stack for winter storage.

How to ask

Choose Buy reels on the form beside this page and say what the spool is for, the size you want and how many. Mention plain wood if it matters. If you are buying for a farm, say whether you have a tractor with forks or a front loader, which makes larger reels easy to unload. Deliveries to rural parts of Chester, Bucks, Burlington and Gloucester counties are grouped with other runs out that way.

What is usually in stock

Small plywood and nailed spools come in steadily from electrical contractors and distributors, so a handful is usually easy to supply. Larger matching sets take longer. Because stock follows pickups, the reply tells you what can be supplied now and what will take a week or two.

Animal housing and paddock uses

Smallholders use sturdy reels as goat and chicken climbing platforms, feeder stands, mounting blocks and water-trough bases. For animals, pick reels with no protruding nails, no peeling paint, no chemical stains and no loose splinters, and fix them so they cannot roll. Check them each season for rot and loosened boards. Avoid plastic spools for chewing animals.

Orchards, vineyards and nurseries

Growers wind trellis wire, drip tape, frost cloth, row cover and deer fencing onto spools between seasons.

Allotments and school gardens

Community plots love small drums as benches, compost-bin lids, herb spirals and tool caddies. Volunteers usually fetch them by car.

Questions

Do you have free spools for gardens?

Not as a giveaway, but weathered small spools that are fine for garden use cost very little. The guide to free wooden spools lists the other places people find them.

Can I use a reel for a raised bed?

The flange boards can be reused for a small raised bed if they are plain and sound. Pull every nail first.

Will a wooden spool last outside?

Untreated softwood on wet ground lasts a few seasons. Keep it off the soil and seal it to stretch that.