| Byzantine is the most popular, most recognized | | | | rings do you need to weave an inch of chain"? To |
| weave in chainmaille jewelry. There are numerous | | | | figure this out you have to actually weave an inch of |
| places on the internet to find patterns, but most people | | | | the chain then count them. Fortunately, this step has |
| have a hard time figuring out which size to use and | | | | already been done for you. |
| how many rings they'll need. It doesn't help that so | | | | So now we're down to simple math. The ideal ring size |
| many of the older patterns were written long ago | | | | for Byzantine in 22 gauge is 2.25mm i.d. and you need |
| when chainmakers used to make their own rings using | | | | 40 rings to make an inch of chain. If you want a 20 |
| the cut off shank of a screw driver or a wooden | | | | inch necklace, the formula would look like this: 20 |
| dowel that actually shrank a little bit every time they | | | | (inches of chain) x 40 (rings per inch (rpi)) = 800 22ga |
| used it. Then they would lay their ring down on a ruler | | | | 2.25mm rings. |
| and pick the closest fraction as the size. | | | | To move up a gauge to 20, the ideal ring size is |
| Today rings are made with a little more precision. | | | | 2.75mm i.d. and the rpi is 33. Again, I am using a 20 inch |
| Specialized mandrels are machine ground to exact | | | | chain as my example. 20 x 33 = 660 20ga/2.75mm |
| millimeters. Digital calipers will give you an exact | | | | rings. |
| reading. High quality saw cut rings are sold by the troy | | | | If you want to use 18 gauge wire, you will want to |
| ounce in hundreds of sizes. So many sizes, in fact, that | | | | order 3.5mm i.d. rings, and you'll need 26 rings per inch. |
| beginners are routinely confused by all of the choices, | | | | 20 x 26 = 520 18ga/3.5mm rings. |
| especially if they are trying to convert from the | | | | The most popular size of wire for Byzantine is 16 |
| fractions of inches that their pattern calls for to the | | | | gauge and 4.5mm i.d. is the perfect size ring. In this size, |
| millimeter sizes that most chainmaille ring companies | | | | you need 20 rings per inch: 20 (chain length) x 20 (rings |
| use. | | | | per inch) = 400 16ga/4.5mm rings. |
| After lots of testing, the ideal sizes for the Byzantine | | | | With 14 gauge wire, you move up to 5.5mm i.d. rings, |
| Weave were worked out. Once you decide which | | | | and 16 rings per inch. 20 x 16 = 320 14ga/5.5mm rings. |
| gauge of wire you want to work with, you can select | | | | Keep in mind that this does not take the length of the |
| the correct ring size, based on these | | | | clasp into consideration. You should measure it and |
| recommendations. But how many to buy? To answer | | | | subtract that number from the length of you chain. Or |
| that, you need a few more pieces of information, one | | | | leave it for a margin of error in case you lose a ring or |
| that only you can supply: How long do you want your | | | | two. |
| chain? The next step in the formula is "How many | | | | |