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Daily Wire Tip August 17: Cup Bur Sizes for Wire Gauges

August 17th, 2011

Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip for
August 17, 2011

Question:

How do I determine what size of burr cup to buy for the different size wire gauges? For instance, I use 21-gauge wire for making ear wires. What size burr cup would I use? Is there a chart out there somewhere? Thank you!

-Bobbie in Miami, Florida

Answer:

Hi Bobbie, the size of the cup burr you choose should be just a hair larger than the wire you plan to use it on. For example, if you use 21-gauge (which is 0.723mm in diameter) to make ear wires, then you would want to use a cup bur of 0.8mm, or even the next size larger. To determine what size the wire is, check out our Conversion Table – American Wire Gauge to Inches and MM.

Cup Bur Tool

Choosing your cup bur in this manner, you will find that one will fit several wire gauges. Our sister site, JewelryTools.com, has a great selection of cup burs, including some sets! Remember that these are very versatile as they can be used in either a hand holder or in your Dremel or automatic wire twister.

For those of you who may not know what a cup bur is or how to use it, Sonja Kiser made a nice video tip for us called Removing Wire Burrs.

Answer contributed by Dale "Cougar" Armstrong

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