steel vs. acrylic pinchers

[rebel_logan_24]

ok i know that acrylic is bad for fresh stretches along with pinchers but i am wondering about healded stretches.

why are the acrylic pinchers alwals smaller than the steel ones even when they are the same gauge?? i like steel way better than acrylic but i dont like the size of the 0 gauge steel pinchers but i do like the 0 gauge acrylic pinchers.. does anyone know where you can get 0 gauge steel pinchers in the same size as the small acrylic ones?

[ast.riske]

I saw an explanation of his on a jewelry site somewhere. (sorry I don't have the link or I'd post it.) The explanation was for glass, but I would guess it's similar for acrylic. The gauge chart we use to measure jewelry is actually a wire gauge chart. That means that metal jewelry is typically made from wire made to specification from a steel/titanium/etc manufacturer. That means, steel and Ti jewelry will be to gauge within the accepted tolerance set in the standard. Glass jewelry (as well as organics and other hand-made and non-metal jewelry) is made to a millimeter scale. This means that they can run big or small, but will, most likely, not be correct to the wire gauge chart as they are not using the same standard.

The shirt version of this is, it is unlikely you are going to find steel pinchers that are the same diameter at your acrylic ones. That said, if your pinchers are a little tight, give your ears a little longer to heal up.