Definition
A type of compound-leverage hand shears used in aircraft sheet metal work to cut curves, circles, and irregular shapes in thin metal. They come in three patterns: straight-cut, left-cut (cuts curves to the left), and right-cut (cuts curves to the right), distinguished by colored handles — yellow for straight, red for left, green for right.
Plain English
Specialized snips for cutting shapes and curves in sheet metal. The handle color tells you which direction the shears are designed to cut.
Context Anchor
Seen in aircraft maintenance and sheet-metal repair when a mechanic is cutting aluminum or other thin metal pieces to size.
Derivation
Also called aviation snips or compound-action snips. The name 'Dutchman' is a traditional shop term for these compound-leverage cutters; the compound linkage multiplies hand pressure so a technician can cut harder metal with less effort.
Why Pilots Care
Maintenance technicians need to pick the correct pattern for the cut they're making. Using a left-cut shear to cut a tight right-hand curve mangles the metal and wastes material on a repair.
Analogy
They work somewhat like a heavy-duty paper cutter, but they are built for thin metal instead of paper.
Intuition Check
“Dutchman” does not mean a person from the Netherlands here. In this context, it names a specific type of bench-mounted metal-cutting shear.
Example Sentence 1
He grabbed the green-handled Dutchman shears to trim the curved edge of the patch.
Example Sentence 2
Dutchman shears produced a clean, undistorted cut when shaping the new access panel.