Contenti econ bench shears

Jewelry Discussion
1

Has anyone used these low priced bench shears? Would they be
appropriate for a small studio?

http://www.contenti.com/products/shears/410-970.html

I know it’s better to get good tools but affordability is an issue
(for me) with shears and I hate sawing!

Beverly Jones

2

I have this sheer, have had it for about 3 years, it works fine for
a small studio.

Donna in VA

3

Hi,

yes, I have these shears in my studio - came in handy for cutting
red brass recently.

sharon sawyer

4

I have the six-inch model from Enco, much cheaper. It’s
http://tinyurl.com/2783n6

They do work, and the six-inch model will go through at least 14-
gauge precious metal. It does have, however, a nasty tendency to
curl the metal on the outfeed side. The thicker the sheet is, the
harder it is to get the curl out. I’ve engineered an infeed table and
outfeed table on either side of the blade to help prevent this from
happening, as the hold-down screw the shears come with is
inadequate. Still, if you’re willing to put up with some aftermarket
tinkering or if you only cut fairly thin gauges of sheet, they should
work fine.

The really high-end guillotine model is another option.

5 
Has anyone used these low priced bench shears? Would they be
appropriate for a small studio?

That bench shear looks just like the imported one I bought on eBay
for about $70 for an 8". I am very happy with mine and have cut up to
14ga nickel silver sheet. For the most part it’s used for cutting
16-24ga sheet sterling silver. Your mileage may vary. I wouldn’t
recommend using one of these shears for cutting sheet steel. I don’t
think the quality of the tool or the temper of the blades would hold
up.

Rick Copeland
Silversmith and Lapidary Artisan
Colorado Springs, Colorado
rockymountainwonders.com

6

You can get these in the UK, also a 750mm one, with extra functions
too, roll, bend, etc. Very cheap in my opinion. I paid the same for a
second hand guillotine twenty years ago.

http://tinyurl.com/ysna2h

I feel sure they are available in the US. I do not have this exact
model but I have a treadle one 2ft wide. It leaves a very small curl
on the cut off edge, say a 10 deg twist on a 2mm x 600mm strip. I
think the distortion depends on the curvature on the blades. I gave
up the 6" shears because they did so much distortion.

regards Tim.

7

I have the shears as well. They work well for what I want which is
primarily quick cutting down of large sheets into more manageable
sizes for storage or use. However, I do use them to cut 28 ga sheet
into ‘bezel strips’ and that works fine for me as well. As noted
there is some curvature, but I can easily reshape and then use. For
the money, it works very well in my small home 'studio.

Janice

8

Hi Beverly,

That shear looks plenty fine of you’re cutting brass, copper,
silver, gold, and pewter. I’d keep all forms of steel away from this
shear until you discover it’s composition and tempering.

Jeff Herman

9

hello there

i have no background on shears but i do have a Grizzly Industrial
catalog in front of me. go to grizzly.com search: plate shears

just a happy customer, picked up a dust collector for my buffer,
works fine, nice price.

bill taylor