# Do You Remember These?



## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

For as long as I can remember, one way or another there was a cable spool table in my life. For those of you that don't know what they are, here is an example:
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The best I can say is that they are usually free, and close to indestructible. I had one in college, and that was when the bricks and boards were popular. But, back then was before I learned to respect furniture.

I met a magnificent woman after my second divorce that had one in her apartment. I made her my third wife (and she still is), but not because of the table. She has an extremely thorough methodology as part of her persona (definitely not genetic). She found her spool table along side of the road, and decided to make it a part of her household. Her story tells of how stained and dirty it was. 

She has class, and that means take the thing apart, sand all the parts to bare wood, then stain and finish. That was what she did. What she didn't do was mark all the parts to know how the table would go back together. She said it took hours of swapping pieces until everything fit. I gotta say for a free spool table it looked pretty darn nice. So, her advice is if you take one apart, mark all the pieces first.

Here is a site that has a few suggestions to glamorize one of those things, it's called Crimes Against Furniture (check out the headboard). If you have a good story about a cable spool table, or have one now, tell your story.:yes:












 







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## wooddude9 (Sep 6, 2008)

wow someone has a picture of my first patio table from the 70's. Now I can't remember what ever happened to it but then again the 70's are still a blur too


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## mike1950 (Aug 29, 2010)

Thanks for the memories


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## Gene Howe (Feb 28, 2009)

Although cable spools were too refined to fit my decor in the 70's, I did use two for makeshift supports for a work bench. They eventually became "patio" tables. We didn't really have a patio. They just sat in the dirt.
When we moved, they stayed behind.


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## b00kemdano (Feb 10, 2009)

My aunt has lived near the beach my entire life. She had several houses within walking distance to the sand over the years, and she ALWAYS had a nautical themed den. When she finally retired and sold her big house, I inherited some of her furniture. One piece was a spool that had been dressed up for the nautical theme with some rope and a brass port hole. We used to terrorize the cat by locking it in the porthole! XD

It even still has the tags on it! It was a reel for shielded x-ray cable made in New Jersey and sent to Connecticut.























I can't find a date on the tags.


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## dat (Nov 11, 2010)

my bride and I were talking about those the other day, she was wanting one to use as a picknick table out under the oak tree by the barn


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## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

The second to last shooting range I built utilized one.........once too wobbly for the bag stuff,they gets relelgated to cleaning station.When new they're pretty stout.BW


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## BigJim (Sep 2, 2008)

The old spools were great for working on lawnmowers too, not to mention an all around good work table for carving and things.


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## MerleD.Frey (Mar 27, 2008)

I had one and used it as a fish cleaning station for several years until it finally rotted away at the base and had to finally put it to sleep.


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## joesdad (Nov 1, 2007)

I spent many a hot summer day as a kid in the seventies dining on grape Kool-Aid and Twinkies while sitting around one of those. You did however have to watch out for the occasional wasps that liked to nest inside them. Nice call back.


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## wormwood (Aug 6, 2008)

How many beers, bottle of Blue Nun have been on those old spools? 

How much nasty bong water has been spilled on those spools?


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## PSDkevin (Dec 18, 2010)

The coolest thing I saw made with one of those things was a monster truck playground item. They used the spools for tires. Very neat. Wanted to build one in the back yard but the wife was having none of that


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## FiveOneSix (Sep 26, 2009)

*whoa!...*

haha all my moms friends had at least one. i remember a whole yard full of these one time. they always looked weird to me but i was a young turd...what did i know haha.
never had one at our house though.
i think i remember being a little scared or freaked out by them hahahaha. the memory is good though. i havent seen one in years!


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## whatalesyou1 (Mar 18, 2011)

PSDkevin said:


> The coolest thing I saw made with one of those things was a monster truck playground item. They used the spools for tires. Very neat. Wanted to build one in the back yard but the wife was having none of that


 
:thumbsup: I would like to see that! (the monster truck...not your wife):yes:


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## PSDkevin (Dec 18, 2010)

It was at a playground site on line


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## Fudwrecker (Jan 27, 2011)

Back in college in the 80's we needed some co-ax cable in our rented house to install some cable TV. Not having any money we did the poor student thing and stole it. We only needed maybe 25' but we busted into the local cable company's yard one night and stole a whole spool of it. I do not remember the total Length of the co-ax cable but you can imagine! That spool followed me around and was used a beer holding table for my remaining university days all the time producing never ending oodles of co ax cable for whoever wanted to hook up some cable TV!

I bet if I were to find that spool (where ever it ended up) today it would still have miles of cable on it!


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