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Terms Used
Gauge - A term used to express the thickness (or thinness,
I suppose) of wire that a piece of jewellery is made of. Our suppliers use the
Brown & Sharp gauging system. Our jewellery starts at 16 gauge, which is the
thinnest, and goes up to 00 gauge, which may be thicker than most of you want
to know. After that, jewellery begins to be measured in fractions of an inch (usually
in 1/16” increments)… 00g is 3/8”, then the next sizes up are 7/16”,
1/2”, 9/16”, 5/8” and so on.
Diameter - A term used to express inside diameter measurement
of any type of ring using fractions of an inch.
Length – A term used to express the length of a barbell
post only, not including the beads. This measurement, also in fractions of an
inch, is also used to measure length of curved barbells.
Materials
316LVM Implant Grade Stainless Steel - The same
stainless steel used to make pins and screws for surgery, dental braces and pacemakers.
It is used for implants anytime the surgeon may wish to adjust or remove it later.
316LVM is specifically formulated not to react with human chemistry and when properly
polished it presents a non-adhesive mirror-like finish that is very easy to keep
clean. 316LVM was discovered by accident when the US Navy was trying to formulate
a stainless steel welding wire to use in undersea welding. To this day it is commonly
used by NASA. Sea water reacts to metals much the same as blood.
The ‘L’ in 316LVM means Low Carbon as carbon acts as a catalyst with
nickel to cause metal reactions. The ‘VM’ in 316LVM means the metal
was vacuum manufactured to eliminate any impurities. Almost all NEXT!'s
jewellery is available in 316LVM.
Gold - Gold has been used for centuries (millennia
actually) for piercing jewellery. Gold today is an alloy called Karat Gold. Pure
gold (24K) is inert; it won't react with anything. It is also too soft to make
into jewellery so other metals; typically copper, nickel and silver are added
to it for strength and /or colour. Some people may react with these alloys so
some piercers will not use it in a fresh piercing.
Although we do prefer to pierce with stainless, as we believe it to be a far superior
metal for a fresh piercing, we will pierce with gold at NEXT!
However, we will also advise you on how to spot a reaction and to replace gold
with stainless if one occurs.
Titanium and Niobium - These are also inert metals.
They are also elements and may be found on the periodic table. Titanium is used
in bone surgery to replace bone as in addition to being inert it is also porous
(like an AREO bar) which allows the body to grows cells into it and accept it
as part of the bone structure. This already makes it a poor choice for piercing
jewellery that you have to turn to clean. RRRIPPP!!! Also if the holes are big
enough for cells to grow into then they are big enough for germs and bacteria
to live in... the longer you own the ring; the dirtier it gets. Keeping jewellery
clean is the most important part of healing.
Some highly polished implant grades of titanium and niobium may be imported from
the States and are almost as suitable as 316lvm for a fresh piercing. These pieces
are almost always also anodized, an electro-chemical process that alters the metals
colour. Your body is an electro-chemical processor and may change that colour
back to a dull grey. We stock some of these novelty pieces and can order whatever
you wish.
If you buy niobium or titanium jewellery be sure to check the polish.
We have examples of industrial grade titanium rings that bargain basement piercers
try to pass off as jewellery.
If you're not sure, we can show you. No one ever died from not getting
a piercing right now. |
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NEXT! offers the best
piercing training course in the industry.
If you
have ever wanted to become a piercer then Click Here to read more about enroling in our training program today!
[Click For More Info!] |
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