tin snips-left hand or right hand?

[3 toed sloth]

My first visit to metalwork forum. I am trying to get to the bottom of what makes a pair of snips left hand or right hand.

Aviation snips, or Wiss snips have green or red handles to indicate left or right hand snips.
A search of several different sources on the net show that the green handles are right handed and the red handles are left handed. If you look at a pair in the shop, the packaging will tell you that red is left hand and green is right hand.

So what's the problem?

As a plumber myself, the general opinion (almost universal) seems to be that green handles are left handed and red are right handed. This can cause confusion when working with others but normally you can just ask for the red ones, and avoid an argument.

But what about gilbow snips, which are not colour coded?

I have heard many theories about what makes one LH and one RH but none seem to stand up to logic and reason.

Please let me know if you have ever pondered this great dilemma and ,even better, come up with a feasible answer.

[Geoff Dean]

I always thought that left and right handed referred to the direction of the cut it would make, rather than the hand it was used in.

So a left hand pair would tend to want to cut to the left or anti clockwise and a right hand pair would tend to cut to the right or clockwise.

[.RC.]

I thought all tinsnips were specially designed not to cut in the direction you want..

[ash233]

I thought it referred to which of the blades (left or right when looking down) was at the top. This then influences which side is the waste material as it allow one side of the material being cut to curl downwards out of the way. I could be wrong though!

[Ben Dono]

I never really looked at which one is left or right, just picked the one that allowed me to pull the off cut out of the way so I could continue the cut. Quite often with long rips up a sheet I will alternate between the pair to get a curl of waste about 10mm wide.

I think the answer is that the snips need a clearance to cut any longer than the cutting edge. Depending on which is your off cut side you pick the appropriate tool.

[Ben Dono]

Hahah I just re read your question.. I really should read people's questions a little better before I respond... Kind of reminds me of high school exams.. Your a plumber and probably already know all that!
I never bothered with calling it left or right, I just picked the correct one for the cut...so I'm in the same boat as you now!

[Graziano]

Never really thought about it much but I always thought that if I held the snips in the right hand and the waste came off to the right of the snip blades enabling you to hold the wanted piece in your left hand then it was a right hand snip. If red/left and green/right are used for handles, then that would also match the marine convention of left/red/port and right/green/starboard.

[Stustoys]

I'm with Geoff,
Right handed(green handle) left blade on top, cuts right.
Left handed (red handle) right blade on top , cuts left.(from memory, I just sort of remember the names being backwards. I cant find a ref but am happy to go along with Wiss)

It doesnt make a lot of difference to how easily they cut(depends a little on the dia), you can see the line with one pair, you cant with the other.

Some snips are really build to cut straight lines only. If you really want to cut circles you're likely better off with the special Wiss snips, which you can cut circles or even right angles in the sheet.

Stuart

[Crunchie]

The colours are the confusion here. My guess is that some manufacturers couldn't narrow down the "rules" when they decided on their own colour coding.
As far as left or right handedness goes, it is the same with scissors. The shape and closing action of your hand puts side pressure on the handles and this is transferred to the blades. The snips and scissors are of different configeration, as mentioned by ash233. If you use left handed scissors in the "normal right handed way, you actually take side pressure off, resulting in the paper sliding down the side of the blade instead of being cut. Try cutting sheet metal with single fulcrum left hand snips using the right hand grip and watch the metal fold over the cutting edge and slip between the blades.
When teaching metalwork in high school, we had a few pairs of left handed snips but found that most "left handers" were so used to coping with tools designed for right handers, they didn't bother with them. Incidently, try teaching a left hander how to use a millsaw file.

[A Duke]

My understanding is, if you have the snips in your right hand and you can see the line you are cutting to and it is not covered by the cutter they are right handed if the line is covered by the top cutter they are left handed and you would need to change hands or squint over the top. Of course there are many other reasons you would want handed snips other than which hand they are most comfortable in.
Of course this my not be Gospel.
Regards

[eskimo]

If your RH use rh snips...if your left handed use left hand snips

want to be able to see the line when your cutting

but having both types can be beneficial in some situations

want to cut round inside circles..use curved blade snips.

[capt'ngrumpy]

Ah the debate of tin snips.
For starters I'm fairly confident that wiss is a brand name.Left and right has nothing to do with which hand you hold them in.Left is for where the offcut of the material peels away and allows you to cut curves in that direction and likewise for right.Even though I'm a leftie,I've always felt more comfortable
with the red pair which is the righties preferred choice.But do use the green pair whenever need arises.A great set to have is the duckbills,I say this and don't own any.If you get a chance to try them out.

[wheelinround]

:U Many an apprentice has been through this debate I bet me included almost cost me a weeks wage to by my first two pair which never had coloured handles.

I see many correct answers here some more right than others.

Now if you turn them over so waste goes aay from you what does it make them.................an inverted set of R&L anded snips.

I have all 4 sets of Wiss snips L&R straight and avaiation as set with two anvils.

Gilbarco (Edited thanks to Steamwhisper) should be Gilbow make a range also I used to have a R handed set for cutting small circles lite fingered person took them, I have not seen a pair since.

Here's the Wiss pdf (http://www.aisnational.com.au/productdirectorypdf/AIS_Directory_179.pdf) I see some new one with in the range.

[A Duke]

I notice they refer to them as "left cut" and "right cut" not left and right.
Regards

[capt'ngrumpy]

Yes,well spotted Duke.Very valid point.
Wheelin,if you invert them(upside down)the waste offcut will peel downwards not upwards,most uncomfortable situation.

[Stustoys]

if you invert them(upside down)the waste offcut will peel downwards not upwards,most uncomfortable situation.
No, on some snips it will make no difference. On other snips it will mean the handles are below the sheet. But the offcut will be on the same side and curl the same way.

Wiss is a brand name, compound-action or aviation snips if you prefer.

Wiss make a yellow handled pair that pretty much cut straight(either way up, in fact I think its only the plastic handles that are different on these)

Cutting a disc you can pretty much use either

Cutting a hole is where having the correct snips is more important.

Pictures,
The first four pictures are a red handled pair of Wiss.
The fifth is a pair of red handled offset snips

[.RC.]

So are the left or right handed ones best for use as wire cutters?

[capt'ngrumpy]

Good to see you keeping the debate going.Nice pics:2tsup:If the handles are below the sheet then aren't you kinda workin' upside down?In the 1st pic,is the offcut peeling up or down?Like your pair of offset snips,which I inadvertently referred earlier as duckbill.I also have a pair of yellow handle straight wiss
that reside in the bottom of a toolbox along side several pairs of gilbarco
right and left. -As for cutting wire with snips-I reckon your better off using wire
cutters.
capt'n

[Stustoys]

If the handles are below the sheet then aren't you kinda workin' upside down?
Yeap, but thats what happens when you use(some) snips upside down.


In the 1st pic,is the offcut peeling up or down?
Down

[RayG]

So are the left or right handed ones best for use as wire cutters?

+1 :D .... whenever it's something to do with wire, ask a farmer...

Regards
Ray

[capt'ngrumpy]

So how many pairs of snips(left or right) have you dulled(or wrecked) cutting wire? Do they still cut sheetmetal after trimming all that fencewire?:wink:
Regards
capt'n

[Steamwhisperer]

Completely (well almost) off topic but isn't it Gilbow and not Gilbarco. I think Gilbarco make bowsers etc.

Phil

[wheelinround]

Completely (well almost) off topic but isn't it Gilbow and not Gilbarco. I think Gilbarco make bowsers etc.

Phil


Not of topic my fault Gilbow is correct Gilbarco is fuel pumps :doh:

[wheelinround]

So are the left or right handed ones best for use as wire cutters?

:)( yep and suffer the consequences

[wheelinround]

some of the Gilbow range Irwin (http://www.toolmart.com.au/brand/irwin.html?manufacturer=656)

[RayG]

So how many pairs of snips(left or right) have you dulled(or wrecked) cutting wire? Do they still cut sheetmetal after trimming all that fencewire?:wink:
Regards
capt'n


Hi Capt'n,

I see .RC's sense of humor is something that will occasionally require a bit of explanation... :rolleyes:

Speaking of snips, years ago I bought left right and straight Wiss branded aviation snips, and they were badly made rubbish, I'm pretty sure I got them at the local Mitre 10 shop, and I'm positive they were fakes.

Not a patch on the older Wiss snips and the Gilbow

http://www.backsaw.net/pics/Misc/DSCN1849.JPG


Regards
Ray

PS Those above are both right handed, in case you were wondering.

[capt'ngrumpy]

G'day Ray,yep .RC's sense of humour is a goodin. My little dig was headed in that direction but hit you by mistake.Got my Rs mixed up.Fell for trap of missnameing gilow too. Shoulda known better I've had quite a few.The blue pair in the pic look like they haven't seen much action.And those dressmaken
scissors, who'd you get them off Noah? Good pair for making tin skirts.Don't tell me you cut wire with em. The grip on them look a bit uncomfey.
Regards
capt'n

[eskimo]

So are the left or right handed ones best for use as wire cutters?

my dad (rest..... his soul) will come back and haunt you.....
he taught me at a very early age you dont use tins nips to cut wire...not even copper wire.
(think i still have the marks to prove I listened...after being yelled at 3 or 4 times):D

[3 toed sloth]

Wow, and here I was hoping to get a reply!

Sorry for late response but typed out a long winded speel last night and when I hit submit it wouldn't send.:doh: Had to restart computer and lost all my gibberish. Must be a left handed computer.

Firstly, looking at that last photo of the Gilbows, Ray says they are right handed but the blade configuration is the same as "left handed" Wiss snips. Ray, what makes you say they are right handed?

Overall, I agree that the term LH or RH doesn't refer to the hand you use as either one can be used in either hand to suit the job. Having said that, I am a lefty and use the red handled (LH) aviation snips almost always.

The next possibility is that it refers to the way the cut goes. As A Duke mentioned, the term is left cut/ right cut and not left hand/right hand. What I commonly hear is that left hand snips cut to the left, and right hand snips cut right, but this changes with internal versus external curves.

It is great to see so many varied points of view and it suggests to me that there is no hard and fast rule.
I'm not sure about the " seeing the line" theory as I find I usually move the job or my head to a position where I can see the line.
The marine angle is interesting and one I've never heard before, it may explain the choice of colours but doesn't tell us how they decided which was which to start with.

[Stustoys]

** After Rays post I've dug out my ref and have done a 180 on this.
Right handed(red handle) right blade on top, cuts left.
Left handed (green handle) left blade on top, cuts right.(So its still backwards, just in a different way lol)
Though (as some else mentioned) all the Wiss adds I looked at said "left cut", "cuts left" or "cutting direction left" not "left handed"

Stuart

**I tried adding this to my earlier post as well but between the time I started typing and hit send I ran out of time :(

[3 toed sloth]

Nice 180 there, Stuart:U

What you say certainly fits with what I've heard also, although it's only true for cutting external or convex curves. For concave or internal curves the opposite is true.
I suppose you could argue that convex curves are probably more common so the rule applies to those. Then the fact that right hand snips(right blade on top) cut left on internal curves, becomes the exception to the rule.

So does this mean aviation snips are labelled wrongly?

I'll have to double check, but I think I read in Wikipaedia that aviation snips are so named because they were originally invented to cut holes in aluminium sheeting used in the manufacture of plane wings. If this is correct it would explain the different naming.
The red handled aviation snips with right blade on top would mainly be used for cutting internal concave curves and would only cut to the left in that instance.

I almost forgot, what's your ref, Stuart?

[Stustoys]

I can imagine its a British V USA thing, with the poms relating it back to scissors and the yanks to the way it cuts(simply to be different to the poms). So the correct answer may just depend on where you live.

My ref is a Vic TAFE handbook.

Ray, I've also had some nasty Wiss snips, I put it down to them being so much easier to abuse(say for wire cutting:p) than the Gilbows. maybe they cheapened them up at some stage? or maybe as you say a knock off. I should still have a pair kicking around here somewhere.

[Fricasseekid]

A pair of reds will cut counter clockwise, which happens to be easier in the right hand so you not cutting away from your center. Green cut clockwise and thus visa versa. Yellow handled snips just cut straight but the right blade is on top so they will turn left but not right (just like reds).


Also Stuart
:D

[wheelinround]

A pair of reds will cut counter clockwise, which happens to be easier in the right hand so you not cutting away from your center. Green cut clockwise and thus visa versa. Yellow handled snips just cut straight but the right blade is on top so they will turn left but not right (just like reds).


Also Stuart
:D


Again this is only true if your working above the sheet .............if working below the sheets its opposite...........this often happens where the sheet is afixed in place and access to opening from above is imposible.

[Fricasseekid]

Again this is only true if your working above the sheet .............if working below the sheets its opposite...........this often happens where the sheet is afixed in place and access to opening from above is imposible.

In any case the snips are one the same side of the sheet you are on. So...

[wheelinround]

In any case the snips are one the same side of the sheet you are on. So...


:no: not always

[Oldneweng]

+1 :D .... whenever it's something to do with wire, ask a farmer...

Regards
Ray

Best to use with wire is a hammer and the edge of something you don't want to damage.

A file works well if you are keen.

Your wifes best scissors.

Dean

[Oldneweng]

So how many pairs of snips(left or right) have you dulled(or wrecked) cutting wire? Do they still cut sheetmetal after trimming all that fencewire?:wink:
Regards
capt'n

Sometimes you actually want to cut metal sheet with a rough torn section every so often along the cut. about the width of a piece of wire.

Dean

[Oldneweng]

In all honesty if one thinks about this question how many different tools are made to suit the roughly 10% of lefties among us? Almost none! Doesn't this mean anything to anyone? Because of SWMBO I know you can get scissors (for girl type things) in left hand configuration. Hard to get in past but easier now and generally cost the earth.

Bout the only tool available that I know of.

Dean

[Fricasseekid]

:no: not always

Well I'm a sheet metal mechanic by trade and can't imagine a situation where you and the snips aren't on the same side of the sheet metal. Even you are upside down and inside out and giving it a good reach around the red handled snips will always cut counter clockwise and the greens will always cut clockwise (with respect to the snips).