Reed Substitution Guide

Having more than one reed in your arsenal is helpful for easy threading, but reeds are an expense that can quickly add up! Get the most out of the reed sizes you have by learning how to sley your projects at your desired sett using the Reed Substitution Calculations at the bottom of this page, or by using the Reed Substitution Chart below.

Reed Substitution Chart:

Reed Size (Dents per Inch)
Sley in Reed 5 6 8 10 12 15 16 18 20
0-0-1 2 2 3 3 4 5 5.5 6 7
0-1 2.5 3 4 5 6 7.5 8 9 10
0-1-1 3 4 5 7 8 10 11 12 13.5
0-1-1-1 4 4.5 6 7.5 9 11 12 13.5 15
1 5 6 8 10 12 15 16 18 20
1-1-1-2 6 7.5 10 12.5 15 19 20 22.5 25
1-1-2 7 8 11 13.5 16 20 21 24 27
1-2 7.5 9 12 15 18 22.5 24 27 30
1-2-2 8 10 13 17 20 25 27 30 33.5
1-2-2-2 9 10.5 14 17.5 21 26 28 31.5 35
2 10 12 16 20 24 30 32 36 40
2-2-2-3 11 13.5 18 22.5 27 34 36 40.5 45
2-2-3 12 14 19 24.5 28 35 38 42 47
2-3 12.5 15 20 25 30 37.5 40 45 50
2-3-3 13 16 21.5 27 32 40 43 48 54
2-3-3-3 14 16.5 22 28 33 41 44 50 55
3 15 18 24 30 36 45 48 54 60
3-3-3-4 16 19.5 26 32.5 39 48 52 58.5 65
3-3-4 17 20 27 34 40 50 54 60 67
3-4 17.5 21 28 35 42 52.5 56 63 70
3-4-4 18 22 30 37 44 55 59 66 74
3-4-4-4 19 22.5 30 37.5 45 56 60 67.5 75
4 20 24 32 40 48 60 64 72 80
4-4-4-5 21 25.5 34 43 51 64 68 76.5 85
4-4-5 22 26 35 43 52 65 69 78 87
4-5 22.5 27 36 45 54 67.5 72 81 90
4-5-5 23 28 37 47 56 70 75 84 93
4-5-5-5 24 28.5 38 47.5 57 71 76 85.5 95
5 25 30 40 50 60 75 80 90 100

 

Reed Substitution Calculations:

It's helpful to understand how to do your own reed substitution calculations, just in case the substitution chart above doesn't contain what you're looking for.

To find a sleying repeat that best fits the reed you have on hand:
Divide the DPI (dents per inch in your reed) by the EPI (ends per inch in your project)
Resulting whole number = # of ends in each dent
Remainder = Extras ends to be distributed within the sleying repeat

To interpret the results:
The denominator is the number of dents in a sleying repeat
The whole number is the number of ends in each dent
The numerator is the number of ends that need to be added to one of the dents in the sleying repeat.

For example:

12 EPI divided by 8 DPI = 1 1/2
2 (the denominator) is the number of dents in your sleying repeat
1 is the number of ends in your first dent. 2 (1+1) is the number of threads in the remaining dent in the repeat.

The sleying order for threading an 8 dent reed at 12 EPI is 1-2.

Let's try that again:

24 EPI divided by 10 DPI = 2 2/5
Five is the number of dents in your sleying repeat.
Two is the number of ends in each dent.
Two is the number of threads to add to two of the dents in the repeat. These additions can happen anywhere in the repeat (i.e. 3-2-2-2-3 will result in the same EPI as 3-3-2-2-2, but is typically listed from the smaller number to the larger one.)

The sleying order for threading a 10 dent reed at 24 EPI is 2-2-2-3-3.

One more time:

20 EPI divided by 12 EPI = 1 2/3
# of dents in sleying repeat = 3
# of ends in each dent = 1
# of ends that need to be added to the second and third dents = 2
Sleying order = 1-2-2.

 

Still need a hand? Reach out to House of Wool directly at info@houseofwool.ca. We'll be happy to talk through your project with you!