Stitching Wire Glossary of Terms

If you're to saddle stitching and need some help with the common terminology, this glossary of terms will help.

Tensile
The pull required to break stitching wire. Measured in PSI (pounds per square inch). A higher braking point means a stiffer wire. Ideal tensile strength is between 135,000 to 165,000 PSI. Too low and the wire may be too soft to form a proper stitch, or too high and it may bee to stiff and potentially cause damage to your machine.
Cast
The radial (or circular) curvature. Measured as the diameter of free turn of wire.
Camber
The axial component of the helix. Measured at the offset in the ends of one turn of freely hanging wire.
Helix
The cast & camber of a spool of stitching wire. A higher quality wire will have a more dramatic difference in cast and camber; i.e. a larger cast and a smaller camber. This produces less drag for more efficient running through your machine.
Gauge
The thickness of the wire. Common wire gauges are 24 and 25 gauge. Wire gauge is an important factor in compatibility. Certain stitching wire machines are only compatible with one gauge of wire. And although 24 and 25 are very close, the difference in thickness may affect your machine compatibility.
Spool Size
Measured by weight of spool in pounds. Ex: 5 lb spool, 10 lb spool, etc. Certain stitching wire machines only accept certain size spools. Sometimes large industrial inline stitchers use extra large spools like 200, 250, or even up to 1,600 lb spools.
CPSIA
In regards to stitching wire, the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act requires all stitching wire to have less then 100 parts per million of lead content. Make sure any wire you buy is CPSIA compliant to prevent costly and dangerous recalls.

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