Description
These sterling silver jump rings are saw cut and polished to a high gleam. Spiderchain specializes in precious metal jump rings, and we take pride in the quality of our products. These rings are cleanly cut, consistently sized, and free of partial or mangled rings.
17ga Jump Rings – mm
| Inner Diameter | Rings per Troy Ounce (approx.) | Aspect Ratio |
|---|---|---|
| 2.5 mm | 250 | 2.17 |
| 2.75 mm | 230 | 2.39 |
| 3 mm | 210 | 2.61 |
| 3.25 mm | 201 | 2.83 |
| 3.5 mm | 188 | 3.04 |
| 3.75 mm | 182 | 3.26 |
| 4 mm | 169 | 3.48 |
| 4.25 mm | 160 | 3.70 |
| 4.5 mm | 156 | 3.91 |
| 4.75 mm | 145 | 4.13 |
| 5 mm | 143 | 4.35 |
| 5.25 mm | 138 | 4.57 |
| 5.5 mm | 131 | 4.78 |
| 5.75 mm | 127 | 5.00 |
| 6 mm | 120 | 5.22 |
| 6.25 mm | 117 | 5.43 |
| 6.5 mm | 110 | 5.65 |
| 6.75 mm | 107 | 5.87 |
| 7 mm | 104 | 6.09 |
| 7.5 mm | 95 | 6.52 |
| 8 mm | 90 | 6.96 |
Please note that the inner diameter listed is the size of the steel rod that we use to wind that ring size. The finished size will be a tiny bit larger (especially for big/thin rings) because the wire springs back a bit after being wrapped around the rod. And if you want rings with even larger inner diameters than are listed here, please visit the Large Aspect Ratio section of the site.
The rings/ozt numbers in this chart will be closest for sterling silver jump rings. The other metals that we use are slightly less dense than sterling silver. If you’re buying gold filled, brass or copper rings you will get a few more rings in an ounce than you see in the chart.
General Info About Sterling Silver
Pure silver is fairly soft, so it’s usually alloyed with other metals to make it more practical for everyday use. For sterling silver, 92.5% of the weight is silver, with the remaining 7.5% made up by other metal, usually copper. The sterling silver I sell is 92.5% silver and 7.5% copper. You’ll sometimes see sterling silver hallmarked with a “.925” stamp – that refers to the 92.5% silver content. And sometimes it’s simply referred to as 925 silver or 925 sterling. All of these terms are interchangeable, and they all refer to this most common silver alloy – just enough alloying metal added to make it tough enough for everyday use. Wikipedia has a great article on the history of sterling silver.
Working with 17 Gauge Jump Rings
Chainmaille jewelry made with 17ga rings is a sweet spot of thin-yet-strong. And as a bonus, it’s very close to 18 gauge SWG, so it’s easy to make your favorite aluminum-and-steel designs in precious metals. Over the years I’ve made a lot(!) of 17ga jump rings for Rebeca Mojica, and she’s the one who pointed out the nice size coincidence. Here’s what she has to say about 17ga AWG rings:
“I love 17ga AWG wire because it’s very similar in size to 18ga SWG. This makes it easy to upgrade my 18ga SWG designs to silver or gold. I just use the same inner diameter and it works well about 90% of the time. (The other 10% of the time are those very finicky weaves, especially if they use multiple ring sizes.) 18SWG/17AWG is my favorite wire diameter because it’s thin enough to be easy on the hands to work with, but thick enough to be satisfyingly durable.”
I recommend using either mismatched pliers (flat-nose and chain-nose) or two flat-nose for working with 17ga chainmail rings.
