Jewelry Wire Gauge Chart: AWG to mm, and What Each Gauge Is For

Jewelry wire gauge runs backwards: the lower the number, the thicker the wire. Twenty to 22 gauge (0.81 to 0.64 mm) handles most wrapping and earwires, 16 to 18 builds frames and clasps, and 24 to 28 weaves and coils. The chart below converts every gauge to millimeters and inches.

Most gauge charts online stop at the conversion. This one adds what each size is for, which hardness to buy it in, how to measure the wire already in your drawer, and the one mismatch between American and British gauges that quietly ruins orders.

Jewelry Wire Gauge Chart: AWG to Millimeters and Inches

Diameters follow the American Wire Gauge standard (ASTM B258), rounded to two decimals. The “best for” column is the consensus across jewelry-wire references; the last column shows where a BENECREAT wire in that gauge lives in our jewelry wire range.

Gauge (AWG)	mm	inches	Best for	BENECREAT wire
10	2.59	0.102	Forged pieces, stiff bangles, sculpture armatures	10-gauge aluminum
12	2.05	0.081	Chokers, stiff bracelets, wire-sculpted rings, bold jump rings	12-gauge aluminum, 12-gauge brass
14	1.63	0.064	Cuffs, neckpieces, structural clasps, chunky jump rings
16	1.29	0.051	Neck wires, freeform rings, bracelet bases, heavy-duty clasps
17	1.15	0.045	A half-step between 16 and 18 for frames that need a touch more body	17-gauge aluminum
18	1.02	0.040	Clasps, hooks, base wire under weaving, the most popular jump-ring size	18-gauge gradient aluminum
20	0.81	0.032	The all-round size: sculpted wirework, standard earwires, head pins, light clasps	20-gauge gold-plated copper
21	0.72	0.028	Prong settings and earwires that need extra strength
22	0.64	0.025	Fits most beads: wrapped links, bracelets, pendants, small jump rings	22-gauge tarnish-resistant copper
24	0.51	0.020	Small-hole beads and pearls, wrapped briolettes, frames for small cabochons
26	0.41	0.016	Coiling around heavier wire, weaving, knitting, fine pearls	26-gauge flat copper, 1 mm wide
28	0.32	0.013	Wire crochet and weaving, seed beads, delicate coils	28-gauge variant of the gold-plated copper spool
30	0.25	0.010	Very fine weaving and lashing; breaks if kinked
32	0.20	0.008	Hair-fine weaving; as flat wire, bezel strips for stone wrapping	32-gauge flat copper, 3 mm wide

Two shortcuts make the whole table easier to hold in your head: every six gauges the diameter doubles, so 18 gauge (1 mm) is exactly half the thickness of 12 gauge (2 mm), and 1 mm is close enough to 18 gauge that you can use it as a mental anchor.

Why Do Wire Gauge Numbers Run Backwards?

Gauge numbers come from the old wire-drawing trade. Wire was made by pulling rod through a series of progressively smaller dies, and the gauge recorded how many draws it took: more passes, thinner wire, higher number. The American Wire Gauge standardized that sequence into a formula in which each step shrinks the diameter by about 11 percent, which is why the scale is logarithmic rather than linear. Three steps halve the cross-sectional area, six steps halve the diameter, and ten steps cut the weight per foot by roughly a factor of ten.

That last point matters at the checkout. A 100-foot spool of 12 gauge holds about ten times the metal of a 100-foot spool of 22 gauge, which is why heavy aluminum wire sells by the foot in the hundreds while fine copper sells by the hundreds of feet.

AWG or SWG? The Mismatch That Ruins Orders

Two scales share the same numbers. American Wire Gauge (AWG) governs US listings and nearly all Amazon craft wire. Standard Wire Gauge (SWG) is the British scale, and several long-standing bead suppliers still default to it unless a product says otherwise.

The two agree closely at fine sizes and drift apart as the wire gets heavier:

Gauge	AWG mm	SWG mm	Gap
22	0.64	0.71	0.07 mm
20	0.81	0.91	0.10 mm
18	1.02	1.22	0.20 mm
16	1.29	1.63	0.34 mm
14	1.63	2.03	0.40 mm

Read the 16-gauge row twice: SWG 16 is 1.63 mm, which is 14 gauge in AWG. Order “16 gauge” from a supplier working in SWG and the wire arrives two AWG sizes heavier than the jump rings you planned. The fix is simple. When a listing gives millimeters, trust the millimeters and ignore the gauge label. Every BENECREAT wire states its diameter in millimeters next to the gauge, so 12 gauge reads 2 mm, 18 gauge reads 1 mm, and 22 gauge reads 0.6 mm.

Which Gauge for Which Project?

The chart’s “best for” column compresses a lot of experience into a few words. Here is the longer version, by band.

10 to 14 gauge: structure. This is bangle, cuff, and neckpiece territory, and at 10 gauge it is forging territory. Sterling and copper at these sizes fight back, which is why beginners struggle with them. Aluminum changes the math: our 10-gauge and 12-gauge aluminum wires are solid, soft, and shapeable by hand, so a 2 to 2.5 mm armature or bangle base is a five-minute job rather than a workout, at a fraction of the weight of copper.

16 to 18 gauge: frames, clasps, and jump rings. Sixteen gauge makes neck wires, bracelet bases, and heavy clasps. Eighteen gauge is the most-used jump-ring size and the standard base wire under a 26- or 28-gauge weave; it also makes hooks and larger clasps. Seventeen gauge is the quiet in-between, useful when 18 flexes too much on a frame and 16 looks clumsy.

20 to 22 gauge: the working range. If you buy one spool, buy it here. Twenty gauge is the size most often recommended for sculpted and jig wirework, standard earwires, head pins, and lightweight clasps. Twenty-two gauge fits through most crystal and stone beads, so it is the default for wrapped links, rosary chain, bracelets, and pendants, and it makes small jump rings and hooks. The first spool most wire-wrappers finish is a 22-gauge one; ours comes in tarnish-resistant light gold on a 164-foot spool, enough for a season of practice.

24 to 28 gauge: fine wrapping and weaving. Twenty-four gauge threads small-hole beads and pearls and wraps briolettes. Twenty-six gauge coils around heavier frame wire and is the classic weaving gauge. Twenty-eight gauge is barely wider than a hair, tangles if you let it, and is what wire crochet and seed-bead weaving are built on.

30 to 32 gauge: specialist. Round wire this fine is for lashing and the finest weaves and snaps if kinked. As flat wire, though, 32 gauge earns a place on every bench, which brings us to a distinction no gauge chart mentions.

Flat and Bezel Wire: Gauge Is Thickness Only

On round wire, gauge and diameter are the same thing. On flat wire, gauge describes the thickness of the strip and the width is a separate number. Our 26-gauge flat copper is 0.4 mm thick and 1 mm wide; the 32-gauge flat copper is 0.2 mm thick and 3 mm wide. Both are pure, unplated copper.

Flat wire exists because round wire meets a stone along a line and a strip meets it along a band. That is why bezel strips and stone-wrapping strips are flat, and why width is the design choice: the 3 mm strip is cut to the classic bezel width and folds over a stone, while the 1 mm strip is a flat binding and decorative wire rather than a bezel wall. Treat the gauge as a stiffness rating and the width as the job.

Hardness: Dead Soft, Half Hard, and Full Hard

Gauge tells you how thick the wire is. Temper tells you how it behaves, and the two interact: 14-gauge half-hard wire is far harder to bend than 22-gauge half hard, so the heavier you go, the softer you usually want to buy.

Temper	How it feels	Use it for
Dead soft	Bends by hand into loops, spirals, and free forms	Coiling, weaving, crochet, wrapping, sculpture; hammer it to stiffen
Half hard	Drawn once more, holds crisp angles, springs back slightly	Jump rings, prongs, frames, traditional wirework
Full hard	Springy and resistant, needs tools and effort	Earwires, pins, hooks, and clasps that take daily stress

Two facts save frustration. First, every bend hardens wire, so a dead-soft frame that has been shaped and hammered ends up close to half hard on its own; overwork it and it snaps. Second, colored and plated craft wire is sold soft to medium so the coating survives bending, and aluminum is soft by nature, which is exactly why those wires are the easiest to learn on and the wrong choice for a load-bearing clasp.

Jump Rings and Earwires by the Numbers

Jump rings are where gauge arithmetic pays off. The outside diameter of a ring equals its inside diameter plus twice the wire diameter, so 18-gauge wire (1.02 mm) coiled on a 5 mm mandrel gives rings with a 5 mm inside and a 7 mm outside. Match the wire to the load: 20 gauge (0.8 mm) for light earrings and fine chain, 18 gauge (1 mm) for pendants and clasps, 16 gauge (1.3 mm) for heavier charms and bracelets, 14 gauge (1.6 mm) for chunky necklaces.

Earwires have a convention too. Twenty gauge is the standard, 21 gauge when strength is the priority, and 22 gauge for lighter hooks. That lines up with standard lobe piercings, which are typically 20 gauge (0.8 mm) or 18 gauge (1.0 mm), so a 20-gauge hook slides in without stretching the piercing. Make the hook in half hard or full hard so it holds its curve, and save the soft wire for the wrap beneath it.

How to Tell What Gauge You Have

Unlabeled wire is a fact of life on a craft bench. Three ways to identify it, in order of accuracy:

1. Digital caliper. Close the jaws on the wire and read millimeters. Twelve gauge is 2.05 mm, 14 is 1.63 mm, 18 is 1.02 mm, 20 is 0.81 mm, 22 is 0.64 mm. Round to the nearest row in the chart above.
2. Wire gauge plate. The wire should pass through its numbered slot and not the next smaller one. Make sure the plate is AWG; on an SWG plate the 14 slot is 2.03 mm, which is 12 gauge AWG.
3. Ruler rule of thumb. Lay the wire across a metric ruler: 2 mm is 12 gauge, 1 mm is 18 gauge, and anything you can barely see the thickness of is 26 gauge or finer.

Once you know the gauge, write it on the spool. The 22-gauge spool you buy today and the 24-gauge you buy next month look identical from across the room and behave completely differently on a bead.

Sources

Diameters are from the American Wire Gauge standard as tabulated on Wikipedia’s AWG article, which cites ASTM B258; British figures are from the Standard Wire Gauge table. Use-by-gauge, temper, and jump-ring conventions reflect the consensus of established jewelry-wire references; product dimensions come from the current BENECREAT listings.