The best type of dryline spool that I have found is homemade, fashioned from a piece of 1/2-in. thick acrylic. I cut V-shaped notches out of the acrylic blank, as shown in the drawing, and then drilled a 1/4-in. dia. hole edgewise through the center of the spool. To pay out the line, I place an awl in the hole, where it acts as an axle as I walk out the line.
Acrylic is remarkably strong. My Stringline spool has survived a 50-ft. drop onto concrete, and being run over by a dumptruck. Cost of the acrylic blank: $2 per lifetime.
—Jeffrey D. Taylor, Corvallis, OR
Edited and illustrated by Charles Miller
From Fine Homebuilding #37
