String has long been a household and office utility, but an easily tangled one. That's why generations of tinkerers devised cast-iron string holders and string reels in an attempt to keep string under control. The classic 19th-century string holder shape was a beehive (used, for example, by the U.S. Postal Service). Other cast-iron string holders, some nickeled, others painted black, were more like egg-shaped cages, with openings around their...Continue Reading