Jewelry wire gauge
Encyclopedia
Jewelry wire gauge is a measure of the diameter or gauge of wire
used in jewelry manufacture.
Wire is a single, usually cylindrical, elongated strand of drawn metal. This definition is currently correct, but was not correct when wire was first invented over 2,000 years BC. Wire was first made from gold nuggets pounded into flat sheets. The sheets were then cut into strips and the strips were first twisted and then rolled into the round shape we call wire. This early wire was used in making jewelry. This early wire, made from sheets of pounded metal, can be distinguished from modern wire by the spiral line along the wire created by the edges of the sheet.
Modern wire is manufactured by a different process. Wire is made by pulling a solid metal cylinder through a draw plate
with holes of a defined size. This approach to making wire was something that was discovered in Ancient Rome
. Frequently, smaller sizes of wire are made by pulling wire through successively smaller holes in the draw plate until the desired size is reached.
Today, wire is used extensively in many applications from fencing to the electronics industry to electrical distribution and finally in the making of wire wrapped jewelry
. Originally, when wire was first used, its use was limited to making jewelry.
or by simply bending the wire in a process called work hardening.
Wire, like all metals, will have this same hardness property. Most modern manufacturers of jewelry wire will make the wire with a defined hardness, generally labeled as a hardness of 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4. Historically, these numbers were associated with the number of times that the wire was pulled through the draw plate. The wire becomes harder or stiffer after each time it is drawn through the drawplate. A hardness of 0 meant that the wire was drawn only one time and was as soft and pliable as possible. A hardness of 4 meant that the wire was drawn five or more times and the wire was as stiff and hard as possible. Currently the designations 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 no longer correlate to the number of times that the wire was drawn because the hardness of the wire can be changed by heat treating the wire. Practically, most jewelry wire is sold now as either dead soft, half-hard, or hard, with dead soft being wire manufactured with a hardness of 0, half-hard being wire manufactured with a hardness of 2, and fully hardened wire being wire with a hardness of 4.
Dead soft wire is extremely soft and pliable. It can be easily bent and is excellent for making rounded shapes including a spiral. The disadvantage of using soft wire is that the finished piece can be bent out of shape if not properly handled.
Half-hard wire is slightly stiffer than dead soft wire. Half-hard wire is excellent for making tight, angular bends, for making loops in wire, and for wrapping wire around itself. Finished pieces made with half-hard wire are often more permanent than pieces made with soft wire. Half-hard wire does not do a good job of making spirals.
Hard wire is very stiff and tends to spring back after being bent. This can make it harder to work with when using a jig
. Hard wire will not make a spiral. The advantage to hard wire is that the wire components made out of hard wire are difficult to make but very permanent.
As in many things, no single wire is perfect for all applications. Soft wire is easy to bend and shape, but the finished product may be bent out of shape if squeezed. Hard wire is difficult to bend, but makes very permanent shapes. Half-hard wire is a compromise between the two. The ideal wire will be easy to bend, until in its final shape, but then very stiff. Obviously this ideal wire does not exist, so when making wire wrapped jewelry
the wire is often hardened as part of making the jewelry. Hardening the wire can be accomplished by hammering, or by manipulating the wire in a process called work hardening.
(AWG) and the Standard wire gauge
(SWG) systems. AWG is usually, but not always the standard for defining the sizes of wire used in the United States, and SWG is usually, but not always the standard wire sizing system used in the United Kingdom. With both the AWG and SWG systems, the larger the number, the smaller the gauge. For example: 2-gauge wire is large (like a pencil) and 30-gauge wire is fine, like thread. In Europe, wire is generally measured in millimeters.
For making jump rings, use 10- to 18-gauge wire (2.5 to 1.3 mm). Bracelet and necklace wire components are generally made out of wire that is 16-, 18- or 24-gauge (1.3 to 0.8 mm). Earring wires are usually made out of 18- or 20-gauge wire (1.0 to 0.8 mm). When making wire wrapped jewelry
, these components are connected to one another with wire that is generally 20- to 26-gauge (0.8 to 0.4 mm). Frequently the connections between wire components will include a bead on the wire connector in a technique called a wire-wrapped loop. Most glass beads (but not all) are manufactured with a hole that is 1 mm in size. This will accommodate 20-gauge wire, but will probably not accommodate 18-gauge wire. Some glass beads, almost all freshwater pearls and some gemstone beads will have smaller holes and will require the use of wire smaller than 20-gauge. (The largest wire that can go through the beads is generally chosen. Beads and gemstones are much harder than the wire and will over time saw into the wire, so thicker wire will last longer.)
Larger wire is more difficult to work with. Wire that is 16-gauge and heavier is harder to bend and may not be appropriate for beginners. Hammering wire with a plastic or rawhide mallet will harden wire without changing its shape. Hammering wire with a metal jewelers hammer (chasing hammer) will harden and flatten wire.
Wire
A wire is a single, usually cylindrical, flexible strand or rod of metal. Wires are used to bear mechanical loads and to carry electricity and telecommunications signals. Wire is commonly formed by drawing the metal through a hole in a die or draw plate. Standard sizes are determined by various...
used in jewelry manufacture.
Wire is a single, usually cylindrical, elongated strand of drawn metal. This definition is currently correct, but was not correct when wire was first invented over 2,000 years BC. Wire was first made from gold nuggets pounded into flat sheets. The sheets were then cut into strips and the strips were first twisted and then rolled into the round shape we call wire. This early wire was used in making jewelry. This early wire, made from sheets of pounded metal, can be distinguished from modern wire by the spiral line along the wire created by the edges of the sheet.
Modern wire is manufactured by a different process. Wire is made by pulling a solid metal cylinder through a draw plate
Draw plate
A draw plate is type of die consisting of a hardened steel plate with one or more holes through which wire is drawn to make it thinner. A typical plate will have twenty to thirty holes so a wide range of diameters can be drawn....
with holes of a defined size. This approach to making wire was something that was discovered in Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
. Frequently, smaller sizes of wire are made by pulling wire through successively smaller holes in the draw plate until the desired size is reached.
Today, wire is used extensively in many applications from fencing to the electronics industry to electrical distribution and finally in the making of wire wrapped jewelry
Wire wrapped jewelry
Wire wrapping is one of the oldest techniques for making jewelry by hand. In wire wrapping, jewelry is made using jewelry wire and findings similar to wire to make components. Wire components are then connected to one another using mechanical techniques with no soldering or heating of the wire...
. Originally, when wire was first used, its use was limited to making jewelry.
Wire hardness
All metals have a property called hardness. Hardness is the property of the metal that resists bending. Soft metals are pliable and easy to bend. Hard metals are stiff and hard to bend. The hardness of metals can be changed by heat treating the metal in a process called annealingAnnealing (metallurgy)
Annealing, in metallurgy and materials science, is a heat treatment wherein a material is altered, causing changes in its properties such as strength and hardness. It is a process that produces conditions by heating to above the recrystallization temperature, maintaining a suitable temperature, and...
or by simply bending the wire in a process called work hardening.
Wire, like all metals, will have this same hardness property. Most modern manufacturers of jewelry wire will make the wire with a defined hardness, generally labeled as a hardness of 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4. Historically, these numbers were associated with the number of times that the wire was pulled through the draw plate. The wire becomes harder or stiffer after each time it is drawn through the drawplate. A hardness of 0 meant that the wire was drawn only one time and was as soft and pliable as possible. A hardness of 4 meant that the wire was drawn five or more times and the wire was as stiff and hard as possible. Currently the designations 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 no longer correlate to the number of times that the wire was drawn because the hardness of the wire can be changed by heat treating the wire. Practically, most jewelry wire is sold now as either dead soft, half-hard, or hard, with dead soft being wire manufactured with a hardness of 0, half-hard being wire manufactured with a hardness of 2, and fully hardened wire being wire with a hardness of 4.
Dead soft wire is extremely soft and pliable. It can be easily bent and is excellent for making rounded shapes including a spiral. The disadvantage of using soft wire is that the finished piece can be bent out of shape if not properly handled.
Half-hard wire is slightly stiffer than dead soft wire. Half-hard wire is excellent for making tight, angular bends, for making loops in wire, and for wrapping wire around itself. Finished pieces made with half-hard wire are often more permanent than pieces made with soft wire. Half-hard wire does not do a good job of making spirals.
Hard wire is very stiff and tends to spring back after being bent. This can make it harder to work with when using a jig
Jig (jewellery)
A jig used in making jewelry, a specific type of jig, is a plate or open frame for holding work and helping to shape jewelry components made out of wire or small sheets of metal. A jig in the jewelry making application is used to help establish a pattern for use in shaping the wire or sheets of metal...
. Hard wire will not make a spiral. The advantage to hard wire is that the wire components made out of hard wire are difficult to make but very permanent.
As in many things, no single wire is perfect for all applications. Soft wire is easy to bend and shape, but the finished product may be bent out of shape if squeezed. Hard wire is difficult to bend, but makes very permanent shapes. Half-hard wire is a compromise between the two. The ideal wire will be easy to bend, until in its final shape, but then very stiff. Obviously this ideal wire does not exist, so when making wire wrapped jewelry
Wire wrapped jewelry
Wire wrapping is one of the oldest techniques for making jewelry by hand. In wire wrapping, jewelry is made using jewelry wire and findings similar to wire to make components. Wire components are then connected to one another using mechanical techniques with no soldering or heating of the wire...
the wire is often hardened as part of making the jewelry. Hardening the wire can be accomplished by hammering, or by manipulating the wire in a process called work hardening.
Wire shape
Historically, all wire was round. Advances in technology now allow the manufacture of jewelry wire in several shapes. The "shape" refers to the shape of the cut end. These include round, square, and half-round. Although round wire tends to be more versatile, square and half-round wire are available and have their purpose. Half round wire is often wrapped around other pieces of wire to connect them. Square wire is used because of its aesthetic value. The corners of the square add interest to the finished jewelry. Square wire can also be twisted to create interesting visual effects.Wire size
For jewelry applications, gauges 12-28 are most common. The size of wire is defined by one of two measuring systems. The American wire gaugeAmerican wire gauge
American wire gauge , also known as the Brown & Sharpe wire gauge, is a standardized wire gauge system used since 1857 predominantly in the United States and Canada for the diameters of round, solid, nonferrous, electrically conducting wire...
(AWG) and the Standard wire gauge
Standard wire gauge
British Standard Wire Gauge is a set of wire sizes given by BS 3737:1964 , and is generally abbreviated to SWG. It is also known as: Imperial Wire Gauge or British Standard Gauge. Use of SWG sizes has fallen greatly in popularity, but is still used as a measure of thickness in guitar strings and...
(SWG) systems. AWG is usually, but not always the standard for defining the sizes of wire used in the United States, and SWG is usually, but not always the standard wire sizing system used in the United Kingdom. With both the AWG and SWG systems, the larger the number, the smaller the gauge. For example: 2-gauge wire is large (like a pencil) and 30-gauge wire is fine, like thread. In Europe, wire is generally measured in millimeters.
For making jump rings, use 10- to 18-gauge wire (2.5 to 1.3 mm). Bracelet and necklace wire components are generally made out of wire that is 16-, 18- or 24-gauge (1.3 to 0.8 mm). Earring wires are usually made out of 18- or 20-gauge wire (1.0 to 0.8 mm). When making wire wrapped jewelry
Wire wrapped jewelry
Wire wrapping is one of the oldest techniques for making jewelry by hand. In wire wrapping, jewelry is made using jewelry wire and findings similar to wire to make components. Wire components are then connected to one another using mechanical techniques with no soldering or heating of the wire...
, these components are connected to one another with wire that is generally 20- to 26-gauge (0.8 to 0.4 mm). Frequently the connections between wire components will include a bead on the wire connector in a technique called a wire-wrapped loop. Most glass beads (but not all) are manufactured with a hole that is 1 mm in size. This will accommodate 20-gauge wire, but will probably not accommodate 18-gauge wire. Some glass beads, almost all freshwater pearls and some gemstone beads will have smaller holes and will require the use of wire smaller than 20-gauge. (The largest wire that can go through the beads is generally chosen. Beads and gemstones are much harder than the wire and will over time saw into the wire, so thicker wire will last longer.)
Larger wire is more difficult to work with. Wire that is 16-gauge and heavier is harder to bend and may not be appropriate for beginners. Hammering wire with a plastic or rawhide mallet will harden wire without changing its shape. Hammering wire with a metal jewelers hammer (chasing hammer) will harden and flatten wire.
See also
- French wireFrench wireFrench wire, also known as bullion or gimp, is a fine coil of silver or gold-filled wire used by jewellers to conceal beading wire next to crimps and clasps. Proponents maintain that French wire gives jewelry an elegant, professionally finished look while also protecting and strengthening the ends...
- WireWireA wire is a single, usually cylindrical, flexible strand or rod of metal. Wires are used to bear mechanical loads and to carry electricity and telecommunications signals. Wire is commonly formed by drawing the metal through a hole in a die or draw plate. Standard sizes are determined by various...
- Wire gaugeWire gaugeWire gauge is a measurement of how large a wire is, either in diameter or cross sectional area. This determines the amount of electric current a wire can safely carry, as well as its electrical resistance and weight per unit of length...
- Wire wrapped jewelryWire wrapped jewelryWire wrapping is one of the oldest techniques for making jewelry by hand. In wire wrapping, jewelry is made using jewelry wire and findings similar to wire to make components. Wire components are then connected to one another using mechanical techniques with no soldering or heating of the wire...
- Wire sculptureWire sculptureWire sculpture refers to the creation of sculpture or jewelry out of wire. The medium was experimented with by Alexander Calder....
- jig (jewellery)Jig (jewellery)A jig used in making jewelry, a specific type of jig, is a plate or open frame for holding work and helping to shape jewelry components made out of wire or small sheets of metal. A jig in the jewelry making application is used to help establish a pattern for use in shaping the wire or sheets of metal...