Tin snips, aka “bulldog snips,” are the forged, straight-jawed sheet metal cutters handed down from your grandpa. They make straight cuts well and can do limited curved cuts.

Tin snip grips are typically colored red, yellow, or green, and it's not for cosmetic reasons. Each color signifies a different direction that the snips are made to cut.

Cutting metal on a farm often used to involve either an oxy-acetylene torch, a hacksaw or tin snips. If a shop was “high-tech,” it might have a metal cutting bandsaw or abrasive-disk chop saw.