Anyone making a decent pair of tin snip?

Saggs

Does anyone make a decent pr of snips anymore? Midwest changed the design of their snips a few yrs back and now it's nearly impossible to cut thru a seam on 24ga. smoke pipe. Any suggestions for good pr of left and right tin snips?

Al Corelli

Been using Wiss offset aviation snips for some time. Last couple of years, the quality is slipping, though.

Quality started slipping right about the time they became availablein the orange box stores.

I guess that says alot.

Plumdog_2

Tin snips

I think Klenk (sp) are the best. Fit your hand, well made, last a long time. Get some bulldog snips for the seams. Don't cut yourself! hahaha

Mitch_4

I like WISS

but I find that almost everyone is not up to snuff lately. My supplier lets me test them before I buy,andI have gotten to be able to tell from the feel of how they close, how good they will cut. But most do not last more than a year. Less if I catch the wife pruning her roses with them...arg!!

Good ones I can feel the edges "grind" (for lack of a better description) the entire length of the shear edge on a slow close. It a feel I do not get on bad snips even if the nut is tightened.

Good luck because a lot is off shore these days and everyone is trying to make it cheaper.

Mitch

clammy

malco

How about malco offset avaiation snips in both left and right also get a pair of bull snips for cutting the acme on the smoke pipe saves the offset from becoming ruined most snips are not designed to cut through 2 layers of even 28 gauge no less 24 gauge for larger smoke pipe 8 and up i usually just use a pair of straight hand shears peace and good luck clammy

Jeff Lawrence_25

In my opinion

Stay away from Irwin if you have any 'fine' cutting to do.

I like the Klenks snips I have. They cut some thick stuff and come back for more.

Christian Egli_2

Progress hasn't made it to the future yet-sharpening is still in

Watching the James Bond movies you'd think for sure by now we'd have the laser snip, a red one and a green one, for either left or right.

The real old beefy snips that were cast out of real metal seem better than the newer stuff. That's what we've figured since we've gotten the hang of sharpening the snips and all our scissors.

Sharpening things is amazingly worth the effort (particularly considering how little effort it all is to sharpen them)

For snips and scissors, don't sharpen the vertical edges that slide past each other, sharpen the (slightly) bevel edge on the grinding wheel. Then, give a little hit with an oil stone on the sliding face, finish things off by hand and you're back in business.

The key trick is to not produce a smooth surface. You need a coarse grinding wheel that will leave lots of tiny groves. These groves (which flow the short way across the snip's edge) bite into the sheet metal being cut; without them, the snip just slides backwards and doesn't cut.

Find yourself an old rusted snip everyone abandoned and practice the sharpening. Most tools don't need any disassembly to open wide enough for a regrind. Practice the sharpening until the old snip cuts a sheet of newspaper, or better, the plastic window of an envelope or a plastic grocery bag. No tear, no forcing. After that, you'll be cutting sheet metal doilies with the old tool. You can't properly cut steel unless you can cut paper first, which a lot of brand new tools can't...

It's a very satisfying exercise.

Unknown

I use the same

Wiss offset , green . My current snips sucked right off the bat . And for some reason you can't tighten the nut to get the blades closer anymore . I just got a new pair , I'll see how they cut tomorrow .

For cutting wire I have Craftsman straight cut - when the blade gets dull I trade it right back . Must be on my 5th pair in 2 years . Yeah , I think they lost money on me .

jeff_25

i just snap the smoke pipe together then cut it with the cordless metal cir. saw just watch the fling pc. and wear the ear plugs works on sprial pipe to.

B. Tice

Right Clammy.....

The best way to kill your snips is to cut the locks. Use bullnose snips for that.

I also like Klenk's but I can't find them anymore.

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Plumdog_2

Klenks

We get them at HVAC Supply in Colo. They rule. I still have my first set from 1980 something.

Mad Dog_2

Wiss

Mad Dog

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EBEBRATT-Ed

Plumdog and clammy are right. Youll wreck regular snips if you cut the seams with them.

Use bulldogs, hacksaw etc. Your cutting a lot of metal at one time that the snips are not intended to cut.


Ed

J.C.A._3

MY Dad...

Was a tin knocker for 35 years (BIG stuff!,pressurised environments, paint booths for G.M. and the like, and commercial HVAC stuff). He gave me a pair of (believe it or not,,,)Rigid shears, that are still in use. He claims they are almost as old as me.They HAD replacable blades, but I bet I won't find anymore.

After all the time he spent working with the things, he and his company settled, like Ron Jr., with Craftsman snips. If they fail, they get replaced free of charge.Back then, Craftsman snips were made by Wiss, Malco and Northwestern...depending on the year they were purchased. Ya can't beat a free replacement for failure in my book. Just hope they make it through the jobs that have to be done before snapping.

I've gone through a few pair of the Northwestern offsets in the last few years, but they still feel the most comfortable...to me. Chris

Maine Doug_49

What a strange world

You guys have all this new electronic test gear, computer run boilers and cool building controls and no snips. How could the basic tools be left behind while amazing stuff is being created?