Ok, lately I've been taking to making things out of stainless steel chain mallie rings. The problem is that when i make a bracelet or something, the area around the fastener always looks pretty bad. I'm thinking to have a friend who also does chain mallie finish the weave all the way around. This would make it look good but make it impossible to remove.Are there any long term problems with stainless steel on skin? I know some metals will change the color of the skin or make the skin absorb some of the metal. Is this something to worry about with stainless steel?
Stainless steel contains both nickel and chromium. These two alloys are responsible for most of contact dermatitis in people. Some of my co-workers making steel had such bad reactions to chromium that they had to quit their jobs. Their skin was always inflamed. People don't react to finished stainless steel the same way because the alloys are bonded tightly in the heat treating process. But if you are grinding it and getting the dust on your skin, you could get a contact dermatitis if you are sensitive. I don't think it would absorb into your blood stream or do any long term damage to your skin. If you do get a reaction, you would have to cease your exposure or in a worse case scenario risk getting a body wide reaction like my coworkers. I would not worry about any exposure making rings out of stainless steel. After all, stainless steel is used in sugical implants and most people are fine.
