Aspect Ratio

Aspect ratio is the relationship between two measurements.  In the case of chain maille, the aspect ratio of a ring is the relationship between the diameter (gauge) of the wire and the inner diameter (ID) of the ring.

To calculate the aspect ratio of a ring you need to use the following sum:

ID
__________________

wire gauge (in mm)

The sterling silver and gold fill wire I buy is from America.  Their gauges vary slightly in diameter to the English ones.  A conversion to mmm is shown below:

 

 

The table below gives aspect ratios for the most common ring sizes: 

These figures are for sterling silver and gold fill round wire only. 

 

Gauge  ®	22	20	18	16	14	12
mm id  ¯	0.6452	0.8128	1.0236	1.2903	1.6281	2.0523
2.0	3.1	2.5
2.25	3.5	2.8
2.5	3.9	3.1	2.4
2.75	4.3	3.4	2.7
3.0	4.7	3.7	2.9	2.3
3.25		4.0	3.2	2.5
3.5		4.3	3.4	2.7
3.75		4.6	3.7	2.9
4.0		4.9	3.9	3.1	2.5
4.5		5.5	4.4	3.5	2.8
5.0		6.2	4.9	3.9	3.1	2.4
5.5			5.4	4.3	3.4	2.7
6.0			5.9	4.7	3.7	2.9
6.5			6.4	5.0	4.0	3.2
7.0			6.8	5.4	4.3	3.4
7.5			7.3	5.8	4.6	3.7
8.0				6.2	4.9	3.9
8.5				6.6	5.2	4.1
9.0				7.0	5.5	4.4
9.5				7.4	5.8	4.6
10.0				7.8	6.1	4.9

 

 

 

Suitable rings for weaves:

Although in theory, you can make many weaves with several sizes of ring, they are at their best in both appearance and strength when the correct aspect ratio is used.

For example the Byzantine chain is at its best when woven with rings having an aspect ratio of 3.5.  So, if you wish to weave a chain using 16ga. sterling silver wire run down the 16ga column until you get to 3.5 then moving across to the left you will see that the ring size required is 4.5mm ID.