Tattoo, Piercing, and Medical Supplies | How to Measure Body Jewelry

How to Measure Body Jewelry

This article is from the Piercing FAQ, by Anne Greenblatt with numerous contributions by others.
2B.1 Jewelry Sizes

Jewelry is measured by gauge (thickness) and width. Rings are measured
by the inside diameter. Straight and curved barbells are measured by
the linear width from ball to ball. Most manufacturers offer widths in
1/16″ increments.

2B.1a Gauges And Equivalents

Most jewelry manufactured in the US is gauged according to the Brown & Sharpe system. Most jewelry from the UK and Europe is manufactured by metric gauge.

A visual representation of gauges and diameters is available at

http://www.cf.ac.uk/uwcc/psych/stevensonwc/bodyart/gauge.html

Brown and Sharpe Gauges (used by most American manufacturers)

--------------------------
gauge inches   millimeters
---------------------------
20    0.032    0.812
18    0.040    1.024
16    0.051    1.291
14    0.064    1.628
12    0.081    2.053
10    0.102    2.588
8     0.128    3.264
6     0.162    4.115
4     0.204    5.189
2     0.258    6.544
0     0.325    8.251
00    0.365    9.266

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