English Music Wire Gauge. Conversion Chart

This conversion page allows to find the closest wire gauge to the diameter or area section you need. If the closest one is not an exact match, the difference in the area is shown as a percentage. Try to see it in action!
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Wire diameter

English Music Wire Gauge to Diameter in inches (in)
English Music Wire Gauge to Diameter in mils
English Music Wire Gauge to Diameter in millimetres (mm)
English Music Wire Gauge to Diameter in micrometres (μm)
Units: Diameter in inches (in)  / Diameter in mils  / Diameter in millimetres (mm)  / Diameter in micrometres (μm)
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Wire section area

English Music Wire Gauge to Section area in square inches (in²)
English Music Wire Gauge to Section area in square mils
English Music Wire Gauge to Section area in circular mils
English Music Wire Gauge to Section area in thousands of circular mils (Kcmil)
English Music Wire Gauge to Section area in square millimetres (mm²)
English Music Wire Gauge to Section area in square micrometres (μm²)
Units: Section area in square inches (in²)  / Section area in square mils  / Section area in circular mils  / Section area in thousands of circular mils (Kcmil)  / Section area in square millimetres (mm²)  / Section area in square micrometres (μm²)
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Wire Gauges

American Wire Gauge is a standard used in the United States since 1857 for copper, aluminium, gold, silver, etc. It is also known as Brown & Sharpe wire gauge. The more is the gauge number, the smaller is the wire diameter. Wires thicker than gauge 0 are denoted as 00 (or 2/0), 000 (or 3/0), etc.

Washburn & Moen Steel Wire Gauge is used in the United States for steel. It is also known as US Steel Wire or Roebling Gauge.

British Standard Wire Gauge is no longer popular, but is still used for measuring guitar strings. It is also known as Imperial Wire Gauge or British Standard Gauge. SVG only defines gauges from 7/0 to 50.

Birmingham Wire Gauge is now obsolete. Its sizes are not geometrically or arithmetically progressive, and, consequently, bear no definite relation to each other. B.W.G defines gauges from 5/0 to 36.

IEC 60228 is an international standard that among other things defines a set of standard wires. Wire sizes in this standard are denoted by their cross-section area expressed in mm². GOST 22483-2012 is a slightly modified version of IEC 60228 that is used in Russia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. It adds several smaller wire sizes to the international standard.

If a section area or diameter of the wire does not match a gauge, the nearest one is used and the difference of the area is shown as a percentage.

English Music Wire Gauge to American Wire Gauge, AWG
English Music Wire Gauge to Washburn & Moen Steel Wire Gauge, W&M
English Music Wire Gauge to British Standard Wire Gauge, SWG
English Music Wire Gauge to Birmingham or Stubs' Iron Wire Gauge, B.W.G.
English Music Wire Gauge to Stubs' Steel Wire Gauge
English Music Wire Gauge to IEC 60228:2004 Standard Wire Cross-Section (mm²)
English Music Wire Gauge to GOST 22483-2012 Standard Wire Cross-Section (mm²)
Units: American Wire Gauge, AWG  / Washburn & Moen Steel Wire Gauge, W&M  / British Standard Wire Gauge, SWG  / Birmingham or Stubs' Iron Wire Gauge, B.W.G.  / Stubs' Steel Wire Gauge  / IEC 60228:2004 Standard Wire Cross-Section (mm²)  / GOST 22483-2012 Standard Wire Cross-Section (mm²)
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Music Wire Gauges

Contrariwise to usual wire, larger music wire gauges designate thicker strings.

If a section area or diameter of the wire does not match a gauge, the nearest one is used and the difference of the area is shown as a percentage.

English Music Wire Gauge to American Steel and Wire (ASW) Music Wire Gauge
Units: American Steel and Wire (ASW) Music Wire Gauge  /
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Medical Needle and Catheter Gauges

These gauges are for hypodermic or syringe needles, not sewing needles.

Needle Wire Gauge is derived from Birmingham Wire Gauge and has the same logic: the bigger is the gauge number, the smaller is the needle. French Catheter Scale also known as French Gauge was designed by a Parisian producer of surgical instruments Joseph-Frédéric-Benoît Charrière in 19th century. In Charrière's scale the gauge number divided by 3 gives the needle diameter in mm. That means, the bigger is the gauge number, the thicker is the needle.

Note that all needle scales define external diameter of the needle, not the internal drainage channel.

English Music Wire Gauge to Syringe Needle Gauge
English Music Wire Gauge to French Catheter Scale (FG or Ch)
Units: Syringe Needle Gauge  / French Catheter Scale (FG or Ch)
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Knitting Needle and Crochet Hook Sizes

In the UK knitting needles are marked with Standard Wire Gauge numbers. Old US needles produced up to 1950s were marked with American Wire Gauge numbers. Both UK and Old US needle numbers use bigger numbers for thinner needles. Contemporary US needle size system uses the opposite approach where thinner needles have smaller numbers.

US crochet hook sizes are marked with letters from B to S. The standard is not the same among all manufacturers, so it it always advisable to check crochet hook diameter in mm.

Craft Yarn Council of America states that hook and needle manufacturers have agreed to use metric sizing (mm) on all packages along with US numbers to minimize confusion.

English Music Wire Gauge to U.S. Needle Size
English Music Wire Gauge to Old U.S. Needle Size (AWG)
English Music Wire Gauge to U.K. Needle Size (SWG)
English Music Wire Gauge to U.S. Crochet Hook Size
English Music Wire Gauge to Metric Needle Size (mm)
Units: U.S. Needle Size  / Old U.S. Needle Size (AWG)  / U.K. Needle Size (SWG)  / U.S. Crochet Hook Size  / Metric Needle Size (mm)

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Did you know?
Standard Wire Gauges were officially settled in the Great Britain in 1883. The new standard was based on Birmingham Wire Gauge. Historically the gauge designated the number of drawing operations (passing the wire through a draw palate to make in thinner) that were required to produce the wire of desired thickness. Before the standard system was introduces, wire manufactures used their own proprietary standards.
? Not a valid French Gauge. Gauges are 1 and up. ? Not a valid English Music Wire Gauge. Gauges are from 2 to 30. ? Not a valid B.W.G. number. Gauges are from 5/0 to 36. ? Please enter wire cross-section area and optional percentage difference. ? Not a valid ASW music gauge. Gauges are from 6/0 to 45. ? Not a valid AWG number. ? Crochet hook sizes may be B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, P, Q, or S. ? Not a valid W&M gauge. Gauges are from 7/0 to 50. ? Not a valid Stubs' Steel Wire Gauge. Gauges are from 1 to 80. ? Not a valid U.K. needle number. Sizes are from 7/0 to 50. ? Not a valid Needle Gauge. Gauges are from 6 to 34. ? Not a valid U.S. needle number. Sizes are from 6/0 to 11, 13, 15, 17, 19, 35 or 50. ? Wire diameter or section area should be more than zero ? Not a valid old U.S. needle number. ? Not a valid SWG number. Gauges are from 7/0 to 50.

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