surface bar retainer?

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Wednesday December 19th, 2007 @ 1:49 AM

Filed under: Surface/Unusual

i live in a city where it’s easier to become mayor than find a bartending job. out of the blue, i was offered one today by a massively popular restaurant. starting asap, i’d be making nearly TRIPLE what i’m currently making, but they have a super strict policy on jewelry.

i’ll have to take my gauges out while i work [no problem], but my surface piercing is another story. i made myself wait two long years [until i made myself go to uni], before i had it done. i’ve only had it about three months, and i’m not ready to give it up yet!

do 90 degree surface bar retainers exist, ANYWHERE? i read somewhere that ptfe [bioplast, et al.] can be heat-set into certain forms, but i have searched to the ends of the earth, and no luck. i know continual fussing with such a piercing would lead to a pretty quick demise, but i highly doubt i’d be changing it more than once or twice a month.

help meee

Unfortunately there’s no realistic form of “retainer” for surface piercings. Some retainers are used to minimize the visual look of the piercing, often they have clear silicone o-rings on them to reduce the visual look. Unfortunately there is nothing on the market right now that reduces the visual aspect of a surface bar, unless you remove the beads and put small clear silicone o-rings on the jewelry. However know that your employer will still be able to see the jewelry, no matter what you put in.

Also if one does a proper research into the matter of heating up PTFE(Teflon), Polysulfone(Bioplast),etc then they will find that once heated up the material is compromised. If one is using PTFE for surface bars they should be making it out of solid blocks and should be done so only by a qualified professional.

Taken from the PTFE wiki:

“hile PTFE itself is chemically inert and non-toxic, it begins to deteriorate after the temperature of cookware reaches about 500 °F (260 °C), and decompose above 660 °F (350 °C).[12] These degradation products can be lethal to birds, and can cause flu-like symptoms in humans.[13]

By comparison, cooking fats, oils, and butter will begin to scorch and smoke at about 392 °F (200 °C), and meat is usually fried between 400–450 °F (200–230 °C), but empty cookware can exceed this temperature if left unattended on a hot burner.”

So ultimately I would say either stick with the surface bar you currently have in and just put clear silicone o-rings on the tops and risk violating the companies no jewelry policy. Or you will simply have to make the mature judgment call on how bad do you really want this job, by removing the piercing and making a living.

Life is about giving and taking…Sometime you gotta give something up to take something that you want.

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