برميل
Straight walls, softly radiused shoulders, flat ends. The barrel sits still in the hand and stacks cleanly on the cord — the reason it remains the most requested profile across the GCC.
- Standard sizes
- 6×8 · 8×10 · 10×12 · 12×14 mm
- Aspect ratio
- 1.28 : 1
- Production note
- Highest yield per blank. Best choice for volume programmes.
- Available in
- All nine amber varieties
- Minimum order
- 100 pieces per specification
Custom dimensions are routine. If the profile you need is not in the library we tool for it, proof it against a physical prototype, and archive it under your account so it is never produced for anyone else.
Amber weight, by diameter
Integrated from this profile’s own geometry at 1.08 g/cm³, beads only. Amber is traded by weight, so this is the figure that turns a specification into a price.
- 18G
- 8 mm · 33 beads
- 55G
- 8 mm · 99 beads
- 36G
- 10 mm · 33 beads
- 108G
- 10 mm · 99 beads
- 62G
- 12 mm · 33 beads
- 187G
- 12 mm · 99 beads
Why the barrel yields more than anything else we cut
A barrel is a straight-walled cylinder with a radius rolled onto each shoulder and flat ends. Geometrically that is the shape closest to the blank it comes from, which means less amber is turned into dust getting there. Against a round bead of the same nominal diameter it carries close to twice the material, and against an olive it wastes far less at the tips.
Yield is not an abstraction in amber, because the material is sold by weight and the offcut has no second life. For a volume programme the barrel is usually the profile that lets a target price survive without dropping a polishing stage, and that is why it dominates the Gulf rather than any question of fashion.
How it behaves on a strand
The flat ends mean each bead sits against its neighbour rather than rolling off it, so a barrel strand stacks cleanly and stays where it is put. Under the thumb it advances in discrete steps instead of sliding, which is precisely what a piece used for counting should do.
It also hangs quietly. Because the profile is symmetrical about both axes, a barrel does not need to be oriented during stringing and cannot end up visibly rotated the way an asymmetric profile can. That removes an entire class of assembly error at volume.
Where it is asked for
Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Kuwait treat the barrel as the default, and a Gulf assortment without one reads as incomplete. It is also the profile we recommend for a first programme in any market where you have no sales data, because it is the least likely to be actively disliked anywhere.
Where it is the wrong answer is a range trying to look contemporary. The barrel is a traditional silhouette and it reads as one; a European concept retailer asking for something design-led will not be served by it, and we will say so.
How it carries each amber grade
The straight wall is what makes the barrel the most legible profile across the whole collection. On transparent and lemon grades it acts as a window — light enters one flat end and leaves the other, so you look along the bead rather than into a curve, and clarity is judged more accurately than on any rounded profile. On honey and golden it produces the long band of highlight that most buyers picture when they picture amber.
On dark and black grades it is the least flattering choice, because a straight wall returns a single flat reflection and there is no interior visible to compensate. For those tones we would steer towards hexagon or chest, where faceting or flats put movement back into a material that otherwise absorbs light. That is a specification recommendation rather than a rule, and we will build what you decide.
Questions about this profile
Up to a point. Past it the shoulder becomes an arris and amber chips there within a year of normal handling. If you want a defined edge, the cylinder is the profile designed for it and it will still be intact in five years.
Dark and black. A straight wall returns one flat reflection and there is no visible interior to compensate, so the bead reads as inert. Hexagon or chest put movement back into those tones.
It is geometrically closest to the blank, so less material is removed. Amber is sold by weight and the offcut has no second use, which makes yield a direct cost.
No. It is symmetrical about both axes, which removes an assembly error that asymmetric profiles are prone to at volume.
The whole Gulf. It is the default there, and a Gulf assortment without one reads as incomplete.
Quote a barrel programme.
Send a diameter, a bead count and a quantity. We reply within one business day with a specification and an indicative price.