Small wooden spools

The spool people ask for by name

"Small wooden spool" is how most people outside the electrical trade describe the reels they want or want rid of. It covers anything light enough to carry: plywood spools from about 12 inches across and small nailed reels up to about 24 inches. This entry overlaps with plywood reels and the small end of nailed wood reels, and exists because buyers and sellers search by size first and build second.

Sizes and weights

Published examples show how small and light these are:

• Southwire G-.898 plywood spool: 11¾ inches across, 10-inch traverse, 5-inch drum, 2¾ pounds.
• Southwire G-1.235 plywood spool: 13½ x 10 x 5 inches, 3 pounds.
• Okonite 14 x 10 x 5 wood reel: 5 pounds.
• Okonite 18 x 10 x 6 wood reel: 11 pounds.
• Southwire N-2 plywood reel: 15¾ x 14 x 8 inches, 7 pounds.
• Southwire N-5 plywood reel: 23¾ x 17 x 12 inches, 20 pounds.
• Okonite 24 x 12 x 10 wood reel: 23 pounds.

Anything in this range can be carried by one person, stacked in a car boot, and stored on a shelf. The 12-inch, 18-inch and 24-inch size pages have the full tables.

Where small spools come from

Electricians empty small spools constantly: building wire, control and thermostat wire, alarm and data cable. They go back to the shop in the van and pile up. Homeowners find them after renovations or in garages of houses they have bought. Small manufacturers receive wire and solder on them. Across Philadelphia's row-house neighbourhoods and the suburbs, these are the reels most often left at the kerb.

Selling a handful

Small spools are worth collecting when there are enough of them in one place, or when they are on the way to another pickup. A box or a stack of a dozen or more clean spools makes a good stop. A single spool is easier given to a neighbour, a school art room or a community garden, and we will say so if that is the sensible answer. Keep them dry and stacked on their flanges; plywood spools left in the rain start to peel within weeks.

Buying a small spool

Small spools are the easiest reels to buy, because they come in from contractors steadily. People want them for:

• side tables and stools (the 18- to 24-inch sizes, with a smooth plywood flange);
• hose and drip line reels on a pipe through the arbor hole;
• polywire and polytape for electric fencing;
• craft projects, shelving and plant stands;
• winding rope, extension cords and string lights.

Say the size, the number and what the spool is for in a buy request. Delivery of small spools rides with other runs in the area.

Plywood or nailed at this size?

Plywood spools are lighter and smoother, with a fibreboard tube or thin stave drum and often a 2-inch arbor hole. Nailed spools are heavier and tougher, with plank flanges and a 3⅛-inch hole. For indoor furniture, plywood usually needs less work. For outdoor use and rough handling, nailed spools last longer. The comparison guide goes further.

Small spools in schools, studios and gardens

A surprising share of requests for small spools come from people who are not in the cable trade at all. Teachers want them for classroom tables and reading corners. Theatre groups use them as set pieces that can be rolled on and off. Community gardens in Philadelphia use them as hose reels, seed-tray stands and low benches. Pet owners build cat climbing towers around the drum. Each of those uses wants a clean spool with no loose staples or splinters, so the reply to a buy request says which spools are smooth enough and which need a sanding first.

Stacking and storing a collection

If you collect spools steadily, for example in a contractor's shop, store them in a way that keeps them collectable. Stand plywood spools on edge in a rack or lay them flat in short stacks of five or six, so the bottom ones are not crushed. Keep them off concrete floors that sweat in summer. Keep fibreboard tubes away from water; a soaked tube swells and loses its strength within a day. Sort them roughly by size as they come in, which makes counting easy when you send a list. A few minutes of care keeps a stack of small spools in the reusable column.

Weight on a truck

Because small spools are so light, they are usually limited by space rather than weight. A van can carry dozens, and a box truck hundreds, which is why they are almost always collected alongside other loads.

Thread, twine and fishing line

Hobbyists rewind kite string, macramé cord, fishing line and baker's twine onto little wooden spools.

Questions

Are small spools ever returnable?

Rarely. Check for a maker's stencil or tag, but almost all small spools are one-way.

What is the smallest spool you collect?

There is no fixed minimum, but spools much under a foot across are usually only worth collecting in numbers.