Warp Wires, Shute Wires, Crimped Mesh and more
There are two types of woven wire hardware cloth: woven and crimped. Many of these styles are made as heavy meshes for very specialized uses, such as sifting screens. In both woven and crimped wire cloth meshes, the warp wires are those running the length of the roll. The wires running across the width are called shute wires.
Woven Wire Mesh
- Plain Weave
- warp and shute wires pass over and under adjacent wires
- most plain weave is double crimped - warp and shute wires are crimped and locked into position
- Twilled Weave
- warp and shute wires pass over two and under two adjacent wires
- not as tight as plain weave - more pliable
- Plain Dutch Weave
- warp wires usually larger than shute wires
- closely spaced shute wires makes dense weave with wedge shaped openings
- Twilled Dutch Weave
- combination of Dutch and Twilled weaves
Crimped Wire Mesh
- Double Crimp
- wires are pre-crimped before weaving
- warp and shute wires lay in crimps
- Intermediate Crimp - aka Intercrimp
- warp wires lay in every crimp in shute wires
- shute wires lay in every other crimp in warp wires
- Lock Crimp
- warp and shute wires are locked in place with deep crimps
- used for heavy duty meshes
- Smooth Top Crimp
- crimps are on underside of mesh
- has a smooth flat surface on top
Many of these wire cloth meshes are made for industrial uses. They are very specialized and are not usually available in retail stores.
See the blog article Industrial Wire Cloth - Heavy Gauge Woven Hardware Cloth for more information about these heavier wire cloth meshes.
Information taken in part from Edward J. Darby & Son, Inc. catalog.