The hand reel is a tool consisting of a wooden stick, no longer than 50 cm, with transverse pegs placed at different heights (sometimes at the ends). The upper peg is oriented at a right angle to the lower one.
The hand reel was used to unwind the thread from the spindle or shuttle and rewind it into skeins. The thread was unwound from the spindle or shuttle and rewound onto the reel by passing once over the upper peg and once over the lower peg to form the skein.