Partial reels, bought in Tennessee with the footage known
A partial reel is only inventory if someone can say how much is on it. We buy partial reels in Tennessee, and where there is no record we measure rather than guess.
Send us your reel list
Six details are enough for a first review: what the cable is, the metal, the size, the footage or reel count, the condition and where it sits. Photographs can follow by text or email. There is no fee and no obligation, and nothing moves until written terms are agreed.
Every partial reel is a subtraction problem. The reel held a known quantity when it left the factory, and what remains is that number minus what was pulled. The subtraction is only possible if one of the two figures was written down, which is why the tag matters more than the cable's appearance on the day we look at it.
A partial reel with identification is inventory, because a buyer can plan a pull around it. A partial reel without identification is recovery material, because the first task is establishing what it is, and the second is establishing how much. Those are two different prices for what may be the same cable on the same reel.
A tag, a marker, and a tape measure turn an unknown coil into a quotable reel.
Lot basics
- Measured by
- Tag, marks, or length count
- Preferred
- Tag with remaining footage
- Without a tag
- Handled as recovery material
- Also recorded
- Starting and ending marks
What a factory tag establishes before anything else
The factory tag carries the construction, the size, the voltage rating and the length the reel held when it was spooled. It is the single most useful object in the whole transaction. A legible tag means we can quote the cable as a known article, and that quote can be given from photographs without anyone needing to visit the site.
Tags get lost, painted over, or left on the reel that was returned for credit while the cable sits on a different one. When the tag is gone, we look for the jacket legend next, which establishes the construction but never the footage. The footage is the part that only a record or a measurement can supply, and no amount of looking will replace it.
Starting marks, ending marks, and counter readings
Where the factory length is known and someone marked the remaining cable, the arithmetic is simple. A starting mark at the original cut and an ending mark at the current end give the footage used. Some shops write the counter reading on the reel flange at each pull, which is better practice and much easier for us to work from.
We ask for those marks in photographs, taken square to the flange with all of the writing readable. If the marks are ambiguous, or if the reel has been re-spooled since, we treat the footage as unknown and measure. A marker pen on a flange has saved more value than most people expect, and it costs nothing to keep doing.
Counting length when the record is missing
Measurement means running the cable over a wheel or counting turns against the drum diameter, and neither is free. On a small reel it is quick. On a large power reel it means handling cable that weighs more than the people moving it, and that work has to be justified by what the cable is worth. We will say when it is worth doing.
Where measurement is not justified, weight is the fallback. A reel weighed against a known weight per foot for that construction gives an estimate close enough to price from, provided the reel weight is subtracted and the construction is known. It is an estimate rather than a measured figure, and we say so plainly when we quote a price from it.
- Tag footage, if legible
- Start and end marks on the flange
- Measuring wheel over the outer layer
- Weighed against known weight per foot
Inventory value against recovery value
The difference between the two categories is not sentiment. Inventory can be sold to someone who intends to install it, at a price set by the construction and the length. Recovery material can only be sold for what the copper or aluminum in it is worth, less the cost of stripping it, which is a much smaller number and a much simpler calculation.
That is why we ask about tags before we ask about tonnage. A seller who finds the tag, or who can produce the counter readings from a shop log, usually moves a lot from the second category to the first. It is the cheapest improvement available to anyone holding partial reels, and it costs an afternoon rather than any money.
Related pages
- Wire cut-offsShort lengths that no longer suit a pull
- Mixed pallet wireUnsorted reels assembled into one lot
- Reading a reel tagWhich fields matter and which do not
- Footage by weightEstimating length from a scale reading
- Utility surplus conductorPartial reels from line and substation work
- Scrap insulated wireWhere unidentified cable ends up instead
Questions sellers ask
What counts as a partial reel?
Anything less than the factory length, from a reel with a few feet missing to one with a single wrap left. There is no threshold in the definition, though there is one in practice: below a certain length, the cable is worth more as insulated scrap than as a reel anyone would plan a pull around.
Can you quote from a photograph of the tag alone?
Often, yes, for the construction and the size. The footage still has to be established, either from the tag annotation or from the marks. A tag that shows the original length but nothing about what was pulled tells us what the reel was, not what is on it now, which is the number that matters.
How accurate is weighing a reel?
Close enough to price from, not close enough to invoice from. The method depends on knowing the weight per foot for that exact construction and subtracting the reel, and both introduce error. We treat a weighed figure as an estimate, say so before any offer is made, and say so again when it is confirmed.
Do you buy reels that have been re-spooled?
We do, but a re-spooled reel loses the factory tag's authority, because the cable on it may not be the cable the tag describes. We treat it as unidentified unless the transfer was documented. Photographs of the jacket print on the outer layer will usually settle what is actually there.
Send us your reel list
Six details are enough for a first review: what the cable is, the metal, the size, the footage or reel count, the condition and where it sits. Photographs can follow by text or email. There is no fee and no obligation, and nothing moves until written terms are agreed.
Holding partial reels with no record?
Send the tag and the flange marks. If there are none, we will tell you what measuring would cost you.
Tennessee only · statewide pickup planning