Why does the gauge of a wire increase as the actual diameter decreases?

In general a wire size gauge number corresponds to the number of operations involved in drawing a wire, a larger figure representing more operations resulting in a smaller diameter.

http://www.tfcbooks.com/teslafaq/q&a_044.htm

Hm still not sre I get that...

Okay I hadto go researching again. This answer is correct but didn't make sense to me because I didn't understand what 'drawing a wire' was.

"Wire drawing is a metalworking process used to reduce the diameter of a wire by pulling the wire through a single, or series of, drawing die"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_drawing

This gauge system originated in the number of drawing operations used to produce a given gauge of wire. Very fine wire (for example, 30 gauge) requires more passes through the drawing dies than does 0 gauge wire

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_wire_gauge

Midgets Interpretation on this:

So picture a piece of wire that you pass through an instrument that makes it thinner (Like shaving a bit of each time)

If you pass it through 30 times it is called 30 guage but will be quite small.

If you only pass it through and 'shave' it 10 times it will be called 10 guage but will be larger in diameter.

Thanks for this question Zb - I have often wondered about it but never bothered to find out!

It's not so much shaving as squeezing - but with a pull instead of a push. Squeeze a wide toothpaste tube, and a narrow squirt comes out of the nozzle. With wire, you pull it through. First, you have to cut a bit down to fit through the hole - just like wetting the end of a thread to get it through the eye of a needle. (Well, I do it, anyway...) The thick wire is pulled and it gets squoze - getting narrower but longer.You can imagine what would happen if you took a very thick wire and tried to pull it through a tiny hole. It has to be done several times, as Midget points out. At first, the number of pulls could indicate the gauge. Now, it's standard systems of numbering as they can get bigger reductions as technology has improved. Note systems - there is no world standard. There is no UK standard - both the Birmingham and Lancashire gauges survive alongside Standard Wire Gauge and ones that actually measure the wire (which would seem a far more logical idea, but in a country where 3 metre wide carpet can be found sold by the yard in length anything goes). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_gauge et al

As a jeweller and silversmith, I can tell you that it can be quite an effort, and the 'thinner' bit that Baloo describes often breaks off. The wire can get quite hot, too.
Here you will find a drawplate:
http://www.cooksongold.com/Jewellery-Tools/-Range=Drawplates/-Size=0/-Type=0/&prdsearch=y

Are you seeing the thing about the current capacity of a wire being related to the cross-section of the wire? There's a way of working out how many amps a wire will carry which I ought to remember. The reason they make a lot of electrical wires multi-strand is related to this. A crack in a thick single strand reduces the capacity of the whole length to the effective cross-section at that point. With multi-strand, you can completely break quite a few strands without greatly affecting the capacity. (Also, the wire is more flexible and so you get less cracking.) Never use single-strand for moveable appliances - it's for fixed wiring under the floor and such.
(From City & Guilds 224 Part 2 coursework) (another of Baloo's odd mix of qualifications)