Thread: Tin Snips

Glenn,

We've had this discussion before but I backed down on it the last time. Yes, you are 100% correct that Gilbow is the yardstick by which the others are measured in the tin snip world.

However, the 'aviation' snips - and I'm talking about Wyss snips, not the cheap copies - have their place. I was fortunate enough to work with a first class sheetie about 20 years ago. He used his 12" raked Gilbows for just about everything but he had a set of left and right Wyss snips in his toolbox and they did come out on occassion. He was brought up with a pair of Gilbows in his hand but even he had to admit that there were times when the short handles, cantilevered action and the tight cutting radius of a pair of Wyss snips made life a bit easier in tight places. They're also very handy for marking sheets for cutting and folding. You put a little nick with the left handers on one edge and with the right handers on the other. Then when you feed the sheet into the folder, the nick catches on the fence and gives you spot-on accuracy.

All I'm saying is give credit where it's due. You might find you can do anything you need to do with your Gilbows but the Wyss snips wouldn't be as popular as they are if they weren't handy to have as well. For people doing infrequent cutting, they're a good choice and much easier to master.

I'll second that SilentC I have 2 pairs of Gilbows but always go for the Wiss Aviation snips lefts, rights & straights especially when cutting 1.2mm steel.