Reel guides

What the guides are for

The catalogue tells you what each reel is. The guides answer the questions people ask before and after they find their entry: how to tell one reel from another, how to measure it, whether it belongs to them, what it might be worth, what to do with it, and how to choose one for a project. They are written for anyone holding a reel, from a contractor with a yard full of empties to someone who found one spool in a garage, and they use the same words as the catalogue so you can move between them.

Start here if you have reels to clear

1. Identify your reel: build, stencils, tags and the clues that decide its entry.
2. How to measure a cable reel: flange, traverse, drum and arbor hole, and what to photograph.
3. Returnable or one-way?: the single question that decides whether a reel is yours to sell.
4. Manufacturer reel return programs: how the cable makers' own take-back schemes work and their limits.
5. What is a wooden spool worth?: the factors behind any price, and why there is no price list.
6. What to do with empty cable reels: every route, from resale to recycling to a table in the garden.

Start here if you want a reel

1. Choosing a spool for a table: heights, diameters, plywood or plank, and what to check.
2. Plywood spools vs nailed wood reels: how the two builds differ in use.
3. Free wooden spools: where people find them, and what to check before taking one.
4. Cable reel size chart: published sizes from cable makers in one place.

Where the facts come from

Dimensions, weights and return rules on these pages come from cable makers' and reel makers' own published material: Southwire's reel packaging information, Okonite's Technical News on reel anatomy, Prysmian's wood reel chart, Sonoco's EcoReel programme page and Service Wire's reel return page. The reel designations follow NEMA WC 26, the packaging standard for wire and cable that those makers refer to. Each guide links the sources it uses and gives the date the facts were last checked. Where a number varies between makers, the guides say so rather than averaging it.

How the guides are written

Each guide sticks to what someone holding a reel needs to decide. Trade words are explained the first time they appear: flange for the round sides, traverse for the inside width, drum for the core, staves for the slats of a wooden drum, arbor hole for the centre hole, lagging for the boards nailed across the rims, tie rods for the steel rods that clamp heavy reels together. The same words are used on the reel and size pages, so a measurement taken with the measuring guide matches a row in the size tables.

Not covered here

The guides do not give prices, because reel prices depend on the reel, the place and the month, and a number on a web page would be wrong for most readers. They do not give legal advice about abandoned property or deposits; for a returnable reel, the cable maker or the distributor that sold the cable is the authority. They do not cover cable itself. Partly used reels, cable offcuts and scrap copper belong to separate trades.

For students, teachers and researchers

Several guides are useful to people studying packaging, logistics, timber reuse or construction waste. Cite the source pages linked at the foot of each guide, and note the last-reviewed date, since published reel tables and return programmes change over time.

Suggest a guide

If a question about reels is not answered here, send it in. The best questions become new guides, and every guide is reviewed against its sources before it is published.

Glossary in brief

Flange: the round side. Drum: the core. Traverse: the gap between flanges. Arbor hole: the centre opening. Lagging: protective boards across the rim. Tie rods: steel bolts through both flanges.

Printing and sharing

Foremen can print a guide, pin it in a site trailer or hand copies to apprentices. Links can be forwarded to colleagues, landlords or facility managers who need the same answers. Nothing is behind a login, and no account is needed to read anything.

Accessibility and language

Plain English, short paragraphs, descriptive headings and alt text throughout keep the guides readable on phones, with screen readers or through translation apps.

Questions the guides answer most

• Is my reel worth anything? See what reels are worth.
• Can I keep a reel the contractor left behind? See returnable or one-way first.
• What size is my reel? See measuring a reel.
• Which reel makes a good table? See choosing a spool for a table.
• Where can I get one free? See free wooden spools.
• What do I do with a broken one? See what to do with empty reels.