I stopped by the local Lowes stores a couple of times this month to check out their holiday deals and displays. What caught me a little off guard was that sizable display of Stanley FatMax aviation snips, HVAC tools, cutters, and specialty tools.
While I have definitely seen Stanley and/or Stanley FatMax snips before, these look different, as if they underwent a recent redesign.
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I also noticed this cable tie tensioning tool. It wasn’t very flashy, but it looked like a capable tool. The price was nice as well. Have you seen how high cable tie tool prices can go? Granted you get repeatable tension levels and fancy features in higher-priced tools, but there’s surprisingly little variety in the $30 and under price range.
A check of Lowes’ inventory shows that local stores each have between 15 to 22 of the straight snips in stock. The current price is $14, but maybe these will be discounted as part of Lowes’ Black Friday or holiday sales plans. Even if not, straight aviation snips are always good to keep around for tougher occasional cutting tasks that scissors or shears cannot easily handle.
These tools look pretty convincing, and they’re priced at levels where I expect decent quality and performance for the money. I hope to check these out in coming weeks, and will report back on their quality.
Buy Now(Straight Snip via Lowes)
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Dan
I like the look of the big pair of snips top right, with the holes in the handle, I would try some of those if they come out over here.
Michael
I’m guessing for that price, they are made in China.
Stan
Knowing Stanley these days, I wouldn’t be surprised if these were made in China. At first I thought these might be re-branded Wiss tools that might be USA made, but I doubt it for those prices.
I’ll stick with Midwest and Wiss myself. Mostly USA made and time and money is on the line, these work quite well.
Mike
You’re most likely right. Anything requiring forging will be made in China as they don’t have any working forges left in this country.