Tin Snips
 

I need to buy new tin snips that will cut to the end of the pointed tip. Found some Wiss brand and Stanley for reasonable price. Does anyone have a recommendation? TIA

I don't have any experience personally, but I googled "best tin snips" and found a man site where Wiss was highly recommended. ;)

The 'man site' I found with Googling was not specific about cutting to the end of the blade. Maybe I need stronger jewelry wire cutters. My goal is to be able to cut the tiny circles off Verve dies, so I can use them as inset cuts, and not just die cuts. I have cut off the 'outies' but need to cut some off inside curves.
Thanks for your help...I didn't think of searching Best Tin Snips!

I totally understand - that die design is limiting. I wonder if straight ended jewelry wire cutters would be strong enough?

I don't know these dies - but could you take a small pair of pliers, bend the pieces you want to remove back and forth until they snap off and then sand the area smooth? Jeweler's sandpaper will sand metal very well.

On these types of dies, the little rings are the same thickness steel as the dies, not the little threads that connect two dies together. Not sure how well you can see here...

http://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.spli...b5301bf093.jpg

Thanks for this picture. I only see "outies" here but, still, I think I get the idea. I assume that the OP wants to remove the alignment bits and maintain the shape of the die. It will be hard to do that by cutting alone, even with smaller jewelers snips there is going to be a "flat" spot left by the removal. Will that matter?

If it isn't important whether a flat spot is created, then a pair of jeweler's "side cutters" that look like this

http://www.amazon.com/Beadsmith-Jewe.../dp/B000SN9Z3W

ought to work. (Or any wire cutter like which is heavy enough.) Tin snips tend not to cut very cleanly toward the tip, if you mean those big things used to cut sheet metal and copper. They won't be very precise. It's going to have to be a jeweler's tool, I think.

I have the Wiss brand and I absolutely love them. For absolutely precise cutting, buy the 3-pack: one pair cuts straight (all the way to the end); the tips on one pair curve and cut to the left; and the tips on the other pair curve and cut to the right. If you decide to buy only one pair, get the ones with the yellow handle - they're the ones which cut straight.

I have been able to cut so precisely with these, I no longer need to sand the edges. When Papertrey Ink started coming out with dies, they were not joined by the thin wire pieces. All the dies were part of the solid steel the dies were made from. Cutting these apart is how I started, so when the little wire attachments came along, removing them was a piece of cake.

This is so good to know, Linda! :) I have some PTI dies that I would love to cut apart. Mr. Wonderful has a workbench full of tin snips downstairs that he uses to cut fairly small copper sections for his fish sculptures, but they were too big to use on dies. I'd given up on the idea, but the Wiss sound perfect!

Could never figure out why PTI gangs those dies like that. It means you have to waste paper cutting out bits of shapes you don't want.

Robin, I think the consumers gave the die companies the idea to attach them with thin wires, since we were cutting the others apart anyway. I could be totally wrong, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

The Wiss snips aren't little - they're known as aviation snips, and just have have to take your time to start with. All I had to do was realize I could order another die if I screwed up!

Here's the link to the straight-cut; they will cut slight curves: The Official Site of Wiss Brand Cutting Products

These cut right (tight curves): The Official Site of Wiss Brand Cutting Products

These cut left (tight curves): The Official Site of Wiss Brand Cutting Products

I love this site and all the ladies who give input so we can make good decisions!
My tin snips are on the way from Amazon. The jewelry tools I have are not strong enough to cut that tiny circle from the 'cleavage' of a heart die. I'll let you know if the snips will work.
Thanks!

I got the Stanley Fat Max Aviation Snips. I was able to cut the tiny circle out of Verve heart die's cleavage without bending the die. I test-cut cardstock after cutting it out, and it works perfectly.
This is no small tool....probably weighs near a pound and takes some strength to make it work, but I did it! Yay....just what I wanted.
Love my tools!

A jewelers saw will fit inside to cut the dies apart. The blades of aviation snips and most cutters are too thick to fit in there and the cutting pressure will distort the metal. If you know someone that makes jewelry you may be able to borrow their saw or get them to do it for you. You can buy one for 8 or 9 but you'd also have to buy blades. I'm not familiar with this type of die. Is the opening between the dies wide enough to fit a hacksaw?

I'm not cutting dies apart, but removing placement circles that Verve builds into the dies. Since I don't know anyone who even makes cards, let alone makes jewelry, I had to stick with what I could find. My new snips worked fine. Thanks,