Midwest Tool & Cutlery

Initially, Midwest Tool and Cutlery Company operated as a highest quality "private label" manufacturer of edge hand tools for many leading professional quality brands including the Sears Craftsman® brand. Today, while continuing to manufacture the Sears Craftsman and other professional quality brands of snips hand tools, the company's own Midwest Snips® national brand has become a leading tradesman brand both domestically and in many regions globally. Continuous improvement of forging and other manufacturing processes to meet more demanding product performance goals and the design of new products to meet the changing needs of the company's hand tool user customers is and has been on-going at Midwest Tool and Cutlery Company. In the 1960's, Midwest Tool and Cutlery Company developed the "double overwind spring" which was a superior spring design that remains today the longest-lasting and optimum spring design used in aviation snips and other compound leverage hand tools. The company's membership in manufacturing associations such as the Forge Industry Association, and The Hand Tool Institute; its alliances with tradesman groups including The Sheetmetal Workers International, and government agencies including the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health; along with its relationship with the ergonomics departments of two major universities; are resources that are used to test and develop product improvements and new products. Most recently, these cooperations have resulted in the development of forge die designs that produce the strongest aviation snip blades manufactured today, and ergonomically optimized aviation snip handle openings that make these products the easiest to use. As a leading innovator and developer of new metal cutting snips and related hand tools, Midwest Tool and Cutlery Company owns numerous product design and utility patents. The company's patented Upright® aviation snips feature a handle design that is 90-degrees to the cutting plane of the blades which ergonomically improves wrist range motion and allows the tool user easier access to tight spaces. Midwest Tool and Cutlery Company's patented Cable Cutter features compound leverage handle action for ease of use and a special hardened alloy steel blade insert for versatility and ease of cutting materials such as hardened wire, wire rope, cable, and steel rod. The patent pending Magsnips® line of replaceable blade snips is the company's newest product line innovation. Throughout its history, Midwest Tool and Cutlery Company has been true to its mission: To continue to provide the highest quality USA manufactured hand tools through continuous improvement while being honest and responsible to its customers, employees, and corporate ownership.