Everyone could use a good pair of general purpose snips or shears in their tool box. Snips are comfortable and easy to use, and reduce the effort needed to cut through tough materials.
Snips are good for cutting a lot of things other than sheet metal, but their versatility can be limited. In order to cut sheet metal, snips must be engineered with compound-action high-leverage pivots and handles, and this often means they’ll have short cutting blades. Larger blades could make snips tougher to use in tight spaces.
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I recently learned to much surprise that Wiss, perhaps the largest name in the metal snips and shears market, makes a special snip design that’s meant for general purpose use.
Wiss’s M300 MultiMaster snip is built with standard high leverage handles, but instead of standard blades it is equipped with longer 3″ cutting blades. The MultiMaster’s straight blades can be used on many types of materials, such as rubber sheeting, sheet metal, paper, plastic, and vinyl siding.
Serrated jaws help to maintain a solid grip when cutting through tough materials,
Price: $16-18
According to the product page on Amazon, the MultiMaster is, or was, made in the USA.
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There are two potential downsides to the Wiss MultiMaster snip. First, at 10-1/2″ in length, they’re quite long. Second, the longer jaws might be cumbersome when working in tight spaces or with smaller materials.
I might eventually purchase a pair of Wiss M300 snip for the everyday cutting tasks I typically entrust to my Irwin tin snip. Its size probably won’t bother me much, as my mini Engineer Inc scissors and small Midwest Knifti-Cut snip ($16 via Amazon) are great go-to tools for smaller cutting tasks.
Irwin’s 21304 Extra Cut multi-purpose snip ($16-20 via Amazon) is of a similar design to the MultiMaster snip, but with an overall length of 11-3/4″, it’s quite a bit larger.
For those of you that also keep metal snips or shears in your tool box for multi-purpose applications, does the MultiMaster appeal to you?
mike says
I thought about getting this item once.
I actually prefer the Fiskars one – http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006V8777O/
The fiskars one is a great tool,can cut through most things easily.
I have aviation snips for cutting everything else.
Hang Fire says
I’ve had these for a while. There’s not a lot of leverage to cut hard material near the tips. The first pair got out of shape when it pivoted and the material wedged the blades open. They never cut the same after that, so I threw them away. Then I bought another pair because I missed them so much.
So, I like this tool, but it could be better.
Kevin Smith says
I have a pair I keep in the house just for cutting open hard plastic packaging.
Caleb says
I have a very old pair of big snips like this that I believe are this brand. My grandfather gave them too me. I used them as tin snips when I installed a swam cooler last summer. Worked very well for ducts and sheet metal.
They get the most use opening plastic clamshell packaging. 🙂
Noah says
Been eying a pair of these. I keep a pair of bulldog snips in my bag but the length on these is appealing.
Phil says
I have a set of these and they are handy. They work well for light gauge metal (think flashing, etc) plastics and such, and work quite well on trim. The added blade length helps in making long, straight cuts, but will tend to get in the way of making urns in some cases. I used mine yesterday cutting garden edging, in fact. A couple snips and I am though a 5 inch piece of plastic edging, including all the splines and the round, hollow top.