Gauges as used with Cross Cut Saws

Updated: 12:45 PM 7/15/2026
The primary gauge used with cross cut saws in the U.S. is the Stubs', or Birmingham gauge. Unfortunately there are two Stubs' gauges. One is for "Steel Wire" and the other is for "Iron Wire". Conveniently the "Iron Wire" version has been used by all American saw manufactures. (In catalogs from the Disston Saw Company the Stubs' Gauge is called the "Disston Saw Gauge".)

I have included a table of both versions of Stubs' gauges. The first one is the only one used when referring to saw gauges. The second one in only included for general interest. Note that the second table is quite different from the first table.

Each gauge is plotted and the combination of both gauges is plotted below. The range of the plots is somewhat reduced to something that might be actually used on a cross cut saw.

There are plots included for each table.

Birmingham or Stubs' Iron Wire
Gauge Size Gauge Size
00 000 0.500 17 0.058
0 000 0.454 18 0.049
000 0.425 19 0.042
00 0.380 20 0.035
0 0.340 21 0.032
1 0.300 22 0.028
2 0.284 23 0.025
3 0.259 24 0.022
4 0.238 25 0.020
5 0.220 26 0.018
6 0.203 27 0.016
7 0.180 28 0.014
8 0.165 29 0.013
9 0.148 30 0.012
10 0.134 31 0.010
11 0.120 32 0.009
12 0.109 33 0.008
13 0.095 34 0.007
14 0.083 35 0.005
15 0.072 36 0.004
16 0.065
Birmingham or Stubs' Iron Wire Gauge Plotted.

Steel vs Iron Gauges Plotted.

Stubs' Steel Wire Gauge
Gauge Size Gauge Size Gauge Size Gauge Size
1 0.227 21 0.157 41 0.095 61 0.038
2 0.219 22 0.155 42 0.092 62 0.037
3 0.212 23 0.153 43 0.088 63 0.036
4 0.207 24 0.151 44 0.085 64 0.035
5 0.204 25 0.148 45 0.081 65 0.033
6 0.201 26 0.146 46 0.079 66 0.032
7 0.199 27 0.143 47 0.077 67 0.031
8 0.197 28 0.139 48 0.075 68 0.030
9 0.194 29 0.134 49 0.072 69 0.029
10 0.191 30 0.127 50 0.069 70 0.027
11 0.188 31 0.120 51 0.066 71 0.026
12 0.185 32 0.115 52 0.063 72 0.024
13 0.182 33 0.112 53 0.058 73 0.023
14 0.180 34 0.110 54 0.055 74 0.022
15 0.178 35 0.108 55 0.050 75 0.020
16 0.175 36 0.106 56 0.045 76 0.018
17 0.172 37 0.103 57 0.042 77 0.016
18 0.168 38 0.101 58 0.041 78 0.015
19 0.164 39 0.099 59 0.040 79 0.014
20 0.161 40 0.097 60 0.039 80 0.013
Stubs' Steel Wire Gauge Plotted.