Large wooden spools

The reels that need a forklift

Large wooden spools are the reels people notice: the head-high reels standing in a utility yard, the giant reel left at the edge of a warehouse site, the reel someone wants for a patio table and then discovers weighs as much as a small car's engine. This entry covers wooden reels from about 48 inches across up to 96 inches, whether nailed or bolted. It overlaps with nailed wood reels at the lower end and with bolted wood reels at the upper end, and exists because people ask for them by size.

What they weigh

Weight is the first practical question, and cable makers' own tables answer it:

• Southwire A-38 nailed reel, 48 x 28 x 24 inches: 212 pounds.
• Okonite 54 x 32 x 26 wood reel: 164 pounds, or 234 pounds in its heavier build.
• Southwire A-62 nailed reel, 60 x 28 x 28 inches: about 397 pounds.
• Southwire A-76 nailed reel, 66 x 28 x 30 inches: about 473 pounds.
• Prysmian 72-inch wood reel, 72 x 36 x 36 inches: 616 pounds.
• Okonite 84 x 54 x 48 wood reel: 639 pounds.
• Prysmian 96-inch wood reel, 96 x 48 x 42 inches: 1,150 pounds.

The 48-inch through 96-inch size pages give the full rows and sources.

Handling large reels

From 48 inches up, a reel needs machinery. A forklift with forks long enough to reach under the drum is the normal tool. The forks go under the drum between the flanges, never through the flange boards. The forklift must be rated for the reel's weight at the distance its centre sits from the mast, which for a wide reel is further out than for a pallet. Reels standing on their rims should be chocked on both sides. Rolling by hand is only for short, level distances, with someone on each side and nobody downhill.

When a large spool is worth collecting

Large reels are valuable as reels to companies that rewind heavy cable, to contractors who store long feeder runs, and in matched sets to timber recyclers who want the heavy boards. They are worth collecting when they are sound and there are several in one place, or when a truck is already in the area. A single large reel far from other pickups costs a lot to load and move, and the reply says plainly if that is the case.

Large spools as tables

The 48-inch reels make striking outdoor tables, and people ask for them often. Before buying one, check the height (a 48 x 28 x 24 reel stands about 32 inches high on its flange, a little above dining height), the delivery route (it will not go through a house door), and the ground where it will sit. See spools for tables for more.

Ownership

Large wooden reels are usually one-way, but cable makers are more likely to stencil and reclaim large reels than small ones because they cost more to build. Look for a maker's name, a reel number or a deposit tag on both flanges.

Large spools in this market

Large wooden reels in the Delaware Valley come mainly from utility and heavy construction work. PECO filed its third long-term infrastructure improvement plan for 2026 to 2030 with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission in August 2025, describing about $2.07 billion of work, most of it for reliability projects that include replacing underground cable. Work of that kind uses large reels of medium-voltage cable. So do substation upgrades, the data-centre campus planned for the former steel works in Falls Township, and logistics construction on old industrial land in South Philadelphia. The empties collect in laydown yards near those projects.

Storing large reels until pickup

Large reels sit for a long time between being emptied and being collected, so how they sit matters. Stand them on their rims on concrete, asphalt or compacted gravel, never on grass or soil. Chock each one. Leave space between reels for forks to get in. Do not stack large reels flat on top of each other: the weight crushes the lower flanges and turns sound reels into recycling. If a reel has to stand on soft ground, put timbers under the rim. These steps are cheap and they keep big reels in the reusable column.

Matched sets

Rewinders and heavy-cable users pay more for sets of the same size and build. When you count large reels, note which ones match: same flange, same traverse, same mill if a label says so. A set of six matched 72-inch reels is a very different offer from six odd ones.

Questions

How many large reels fit on a truck?

Sonoco's EcoReel table gives a guide: 100 reels of 48 x 28 x 24, 39 of 60 x 28 x 28, 22 of 72 x 36 x 36 and 8 of 96 x 60 x 42 per truck.

Can a large reel be cut in half for two tables?

It can be done with care, but a cut reel cannot be used as a reel again. We supply them whole.