Empty wooden reels, bought and sold by the trailer.
We buy empty wooden reels from the yards, branches and plants that have too many, and sell them by flange size to the crews and plants that need them. Every reel lot is quoted by flange, traverse and drum, by count and condition, and by the trailer.
One side of every deal is a yard with empties; the other is a crew or a plant that needs reels. We write both up the same way, so the reel that leaves one yard is the reel the other side asked for.
A reel is named by three numbers in inches: flange diameter, the traverse between the flanges, and the drum diameter. These are the flange sizes we trade most, each drawn to scale with a typical traverse and drum.
Freight is paid by the trailer, not by the reel, so the size of the lot sets the price per reel. Sonoco, which runs a reel take-back program, says one trailer holds as few as 8 reels with 96 inch flanges, 60 inch traverse and 42 inch drums, or as many as 200 reels at 36x24x17.
That is why we ask for counts on both sides. A seller with forty 36 inch reels may fill a fifth of a load; a buyer who needs a handful of 84s can take a large share of one. We combine lots along the same lanes where we can, and say so in the quote.
A used reel is only worth what it can still carry. Yard hands chalk a tick or a cross on each flange; we grade the same way and write it on the lot ticket.
The drum's boards are all there and nailed tight. Service Wire, for one, takes back its own reels only with at least 75% of the stave boards intact.
Flat, round and sound across every ply. A warped or split flange lets cable spill off the side.
Torn drive holes lower the price; a torn tie-off hole is an easy repair.
If the hole the shaft runs through is split or wallowed out, the reel can't be lifted or paid out safely. That reel is scrap.
Utilities and their contractors, telecom and fiber builders, electrical distributors and wire plants: the people who wind cable onto reels and the people left holding the empties.
We arrange pickup and delivery in 44 states. Each state page lists its wire and cable plants, its largest utilities, its broadband build-out and the corridors reel freight runs on.
Yes, both. Yards and plants with too many empties sell them to us by the lot, and crews, shops and plants that need reels buy them by size. Each side gets a written quote.
Measure flange diameter, inside traverse and drum diameter in inches and write them in that order, like 48x36x24. The same numbers are usually painted on the reel stencil.
No fixed minimum, but freight is paid per trailer, so a full or shared load costs far less per reel than a single reel on its own truck. The quote shows the freight line so you can compare.
We quote in the 44 states listed under States. Pickup and delivery are booked trailer by trailer, so the ZIP code on the request decides the freight.
Each lot is graded reel by reel: sound and ready to carry cable, fixable with a stave or a bolt, or scrap. The grade for every size group is written on the quote before you agree to anything.
Buying or selling, the request is the same: the size, the count, the condition and where the reels are or need to be. We answer by email or phone with what we can match, what it takes to move it, and a price for the lot.
Email works too: info@cablereelsforsale.com.