There are many different types and designs of tin snips, made for various tasks. They are listed below:
Straight cut tin snips
Straight cut tin snips are designed for one purpose which is simple straight line cutting and trimming. These snips cannot cut curves or circles. They appear simple in design with straight blades and long steel handles.
Curved tin snips
Curved tin snips have rounded blades designed for tasks requiring cutting curves or circles. They are often similar in appearance and design to straight cut tin snips, with long handles for control.
Jewellers tin snips
Jewellers tin snips are speciality snips, designed for lighter duty metals and intricate jobs due to their fine pointed blades. As their name suggests, they are used for jewellery making and can be used by both the professional silversmith and the hobbyist. Different versions can be bought for straight or curved cuts.
Universal tin snips
Universal tin snips can be used for straight cuts or long, wide curves. They are available in either straight handled, left hand cranked or right hand cranked versions.
Utility and multi-purpose tin snips
Utility and multi-purpose tin snips are general purpose tools due to the fact that they are designed for cutting a variety of different materials, rather than just metal. They can be used to cut and trim many household and workshop items.
Straight pattern tin snips
Straight pattern tin snips are often simple in design and strong in construction. These particular tin snips are made for heavy duty metal cutting due to their comfort grip handles and speciality blades which are made from drop forged carbon steel.
Duckbill pattern tin snips
Duckbill pattern tin snips have specially shaped blades for cutting sharper curves and circles. Due to their smaller blades, these tin snips are only designed for light duty work, such as cutting metals of a high gauge thickness.
Bulldog pattern tin snips
Bulldog pattern tin snips are made for heavy duty work and are designed specifically to cut, trim or notch tough alloys. They have short blades and longer handles, which gives them greater leverage and allows them to cut thicker metal of up to 16 gauge.
Spring-loaded tin snips
Spring-loaded tin snips have handles which contain a compressed or stretched spring between them for heavier duty work, such as cutting sheet metal of a lower gauge number. They can do this as the spring takes the strain off the user’s hand muscles. They are available with either a coil or curved spring.
