Best Snips for Metal Roofing: Top Rated Tin Snips

When installing a metal roof, you are essentially a giant sheet-metal worker. Every panel that touches a chimney, intersects a valley, or hits a skylight must be custom-cut on the roof to fit perfectly. If you try to cut thin sheet metal with an abrasive circular saw blade, you will burn the factory paint, melt the protective galvanized coating, and guarantee the panel will rust within months. To make clean, cold, factory-perfect cuts, you must arm yourself with the best snips for metal roofing.

Before you start cutting heavy-duty steel, you need to know exactly how much steel you actually need. Use our Free Roofing Calculator right now to determine your roof’s exact surface area, giving you a flawless material estimate before you start ordering expensive custom panels.

Table of Contents

1. What are Metal Roofing Snips?
2. The Color Code: Red, Green, and Yellow
3. The Best Tin Snips for Metal Roofing (Top Brands)
4. When to Upgrade to Electric Shears
5. Conclusion: The Right Tool for the Cut
6. Frequently Asked Questions

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What are Metal Roofing Snips?

Metal roofing snips (specifically “Aviation Snips”) look like a massive pair of heavy-duty scissors. However, unlike standard scissors, aviation snips feature a complex compound-leverage hinge mechanism.

This compound hinge multiplies the force of your hand by incredible margins, allowing you to easily shear through heavy 26-gauge or 24-gauge structural steel panels with just the squeeze of your palm. The blades are forged from hardened alloy steel and feature micro-serrations along the edge, which grip the slippery metal to prevent it from sliding out of the jaws as you cut.

The Color Code: Red, Green, and Yellow

If you walk into a hardware store, you will immediately notice that aviation snips always come in three distinct handle colors. This is not a brand choice; it is a universal industry color code that dictates exactly how the blades are designed to cut. You must buy the correct color for the specific cut you are making.

1. Yellow Handles (Straight Cut): These are designed to cut in a perfectly straight line. They are the workhorse for ripping metal panels down their length or cutting straight trim pieces.
2. Red Handles (Left Cut): These blades are specifically forged to cut tight curves to the left. When you cut, they push the waste metal down and out of the way on the right side.
3. Green Handles (Right Cut): These blades are forged to cut tight curves to the right. They push the waste metal down on the left side.

Pro Tip: A professional metal roofer always wears a tool belt holding both a Red (Left) and Green (Right) pair of snips. If they are cutting a complex circular hole for a plumbing pipe, they will use both tools to navigate the tight circle perfectly.

The Best Tin Snips for Metal Roofing (Top Brands)

When cutting rigid 24-gauge steel all day, cheap tools will instantly fail, dulling the blade or snapping the pivot bolt. The best snips for metal roofing are manufactured by legendary aviation brands:

1. Midwest Snips (The Industry Standard): Midwest is the undisputed king of sheet metal tools. They are forged in America, and their blades are widely considered the sharpest and longest-lasting in the industry. The handles offer incredible leverage, drastically reducing hand fatigue on massive roofing jobs.
2. Malco (The Roofer’s Choice): Malco specializes heavily in HVAC and roofing tools. Their “Max2000” series snips are legendary for their ergonomic grips and incredibly tight blade tolerances, which prevent the metal from folding between the blades instead of cutting.
3. Wiss (The Classic): Wiss (now owned by Crescent) invented the aviation snip during WWII. While slightly cheaper than Midwest, their heavy-duty compound snips are a fantastic, reliable choice for DIY homeowners tackling a one-off shed roof project.

When to Upgrade to Electric Shears

While hand snips are perfect for intricate detail work around chimneys and pipes, they are exhausting for massive straight cuts.

If you have to cut 40 massive steel panels diagonally to fit into a long roof valley, doing it by hand will destroy your forearms. For massive production cuts, professional crews switch to electric metal shears or nibblers. These power tools slice through thick 22-gauge metal like butter, at blistering speeds, without generating the heat or sparks that destroy the panel’s anti-rust coating.

Conclusion: The Right Tool for the Cut

Installing a high-end standing seam metal roof requires the precision of a surgeon. If you hack the metal with a grinder, it will rust. If you try to force a straight (yellow) snip to cut a tight circle around a pipe, you will permanently warp and destroy the panel. By investing $25 in a premium pair of Midwest or Malco aviation snips, you ensure every cut is clean, cold, and factory-perfect.

Before you start cutting the metal, you need the perfect blueprint. Head over to our Free Roofing Calculator right now. By inputting your home’s footprint, you will generate a mathematically perfect estimate of your roof’s total surface area, ensuring you order the exact number of custom-cut metal panels required for a flawless installation.

Related Guides

• How to Measure a Roof for Metal Roofing
• 24 Gauge Metal Roofing vs 26 Gauge

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use tin snips to cut asphalt shingles?

No. While they technically can cut asphalt, the thick, sticky tar and embedded fiberglass will instantly gum up the hinge mechanism and permanently ruin the micro-serrated cutting blades. You should only use a razor knife (hook blade) to cut asphalt shingles.

What is the difference between tin snips and aviation snips?

Traditional “tin snips” look like giant, heavy scissors with long handles and no hinge mechanism—they rely entirely on the brute strength of your hand to force the blades closed. “Aviation snips” are a modern upgrade that utilizes a compound hinge mechanism, which mathematically multiplies your grip strength, making them far superior for cutting heavy-gauge steel.

How do I sharpen metal roofing snips?

You generally do not sharpen them. The blades on premium aviation snips feature microscopic serrations that grip the metal. If you attempt to file or grind the blades, you will destroy these serrations, and the snips will simply slip off the metal rather than cutting it. When they get dull, it is time to buy a new pair.