Snapper Shear SS704 - Cordless Drill Attachment for Siding Cuts

These work great. I used them on .42” Hardie Backer board and I’m very satisfied. No dust and very smooth and straight cut. So much better than using a masonry saw blade. Only thing but not a big issue is the cord tends to get into the cut behind you so not dangerous. Just have to take notice and move it out of the way. Leaves curly cut material (like curly fries) waste easy to sweep away. Great tool and well worth the cost. Even on small projects.

This tool helped me completely hardiplank my barn (20 ft high at the peak, 42 ft. deep, 60 ft. wide), to the extent that I actually enjoyed it! I did 90% by myself. I started with a circular saw which was way too dusty, and some family help. I ended with a PacTool 404 and a Gecko. The 404 cuts every bit as fast and NO dust. I hesitated to spend the money, but it was so very much worth it. I added the Gecko PacTool International SA903 2-Piece Gecko Gauge Hardi Board Siding Gauges for a one person installation. At the higher elevations, I did have a scaffolding work station so that my cuts were made in the air without having to climb up/down for each plank. The SS404 is lighter than a circular saw and so much easier to guide along the pencil cut line since there was no dust to block the view. The little slivers from the cut do tend to get in the way, but it was easy enough to remove them with one hand while cutting with the other and could be done safely away from the cutting edge. It cuts 1/4 inch from the line drawn, so it worked out well trying to leave the recommended 1/4 inch gap between the butted edges. I also made the cuts above and below my windows by cutting the vertical lines first, then diagonally to the horizontal line turning it like you would a jigsaw to one edge, and then backcutting to the other edge. I say: Buy this tool, buy the Gecko, and go have a good time while working at your own pace.

I have just finished putting up the final pieces of cement board on a master bath remodel. Of all the tools I have bought for this endeavor, this has to be number one, I used mitre saws, jig saws, wallboard saws, utility knives (not even close) and nothing compared to this one tool. Little to no dust, cuts through like butter. You can cut a 5 ft cement board in about 45 seconds. You can flip the blades if they get dull, but I never got to that point with this remodel. This bath is about 11 ft x 17 ft and about 12 ft high. I was hesitant at first spending over $160 on a tool I might only use once, but after having used it, I would pay a lot more. All of my cutting with this tool was done in the bathroom I was working on. As you can see by the picture, the base plate rides along the cement board and the shear is under the board. I built a cutting platform using 2x4s in a hashtag form with the top two pieces on the long axis. Then either placed a large sheet on top to cut alongside one of the top 2x4s or clamped a smaller piece to a 2x4 to hold it in place while I cut along the edge. It worked extremely well. If you are cutting more than a couple of boards this is well worth the price.

Worked good. Did an apartment above my garage with them. I like the fact that they don't create dust like a saw and the curly fries are easy to sweep up. Worth the money. I do recommend taking a few passes on a practice board before you cut into a $60 4x8 sheet.

I was a little skeptical of this thing since it looks very weird and awkward. I decided to buy it because I have become weary of using carbide blades to cut my Hardie Planks in light of the health risks associated with it. Another factor was that holding a spinning blade in my hands wasn't ideal when working from staging. This tool definitely was worth the money for me. Don't let it's looks fool you. It is very easy to use, and makes very nice cuts in the siding planks. As long as you make your cuts with the planks face down (my siding was prepainted), the edge that it creates is nice and sharp. It only takes seconds to make the cut, and is very quiet compared to a saw. As a homeowner who doesn't do carpentry professionally, it was very quick and easy to learn how to use. To make a straight cut, the cutting edge will run perfectly along a speed square. I used it to side my entire house (45' x 45', two stories plus 6 dormers), and I didn't notice any degradation in the sharpness of the blades. The only downside I can even think of is that the while it cuts, it creates waste of about a 1/4 inch strip of the plank. After a while, those little strips make a mess under your feet. Compared to dust flying in the air from the traditional saw blades, I would take this tradeoff any day.

Like most of the reviews, I've found this tool to be indispensable to working with Hardi-Plank. It makes smooth cuts with absolutely no dust provided finished side is down (that is at the bottom of the scissors), and with the help of a 6" speedi-square and a little practice you can make perfectly square cuts. The only thing needed is a little "rasping" of the cut edge to remove some of the remaining loose fibers. I just use a small piece of Hardi-Plank for that. The little curlicues of cut material make a mess but the small bits broken bits get eaten by the grass. I raked most of them up but the smaller bits disappeared into the grass in a couple of weeks. Cutting "notches" in the planks is difficult if not impossible to do neatly with this tool. For that I still use a 4.5" grinder with a diamond wheel. A little dust but nothing like you would get by making every cut on a siding job using a diamond wheel. I just hold my breath for a bit and I'm old anyway... I also still rely on the old skillsaw/diamond blade for trim boards. So back to the tool: Pros: Runs very smooth, variable speed trigger very linear. Powerful, well made - quality and performance you might expect from something like a Bosch power tool. Blades can be removed and turned around and changed side/side, the combinations giving 4 new sets of cutting edges before needing replacement. I've done the entire 3,000 sq ft house with no more wear than a little polishing action on the existing cutting surfaces. Con (only one): Like other reviewers I've found the cord placement at the bottom of the trigger handle troublesome when making long ripping cuts. I have a set of sheetmetal shears of similar design and the cutter head rotates to different positions on the drill motor which eliminates this problem - and these are from Harbor Freight and cost less than $50! C'mon PacTool!

Bought this to do custom cuts on a modern home. I can't speak for long term durability, but I can speak to the product's usability. Pros: It works right out of the box, and works well. Easy to cut a straight line in the material. When the material is supported, you get minimal end cut blow out and chipping. The cut is smooth, but not saw-smooth. Certainly butt-joint smooth. It makes trimming small pieces much less dusty. A life saver when you're 30' in the air, doing cement board facia on a home. No handing the sheet down, cutting it, handing it back up through the skylight. not too heavy. cutter head seems really robust, not a cheap plastic housing like on some products. Quiet. No dust. None. Will cut very small pieces with out blowing them up. You can trim 1/2" off a 10' sheet and still get a nice edge. The pop-up or lay flat tool hook. Not fancy, but the fact you can pop this down when you put the tool in a bucket or a holster is really nice. Pop it back up when you just want to hang it on a sawhorse. A little thing, but very handy. Company is local to the Seattle area (I like this, but I'm in Seattle). Cons (minor complaints about working with Cement board would be more correct): The kerf is about 1/4" thick. I don't know if this can be helped. Minor complaint. The 'curl' from the kerf bends up and right back onto your line when your cutting. Not a huge deal, but it does make the line hard to see sometimes. Doesn't do tight angles or arcs. I call this a Con, but this is certainly not the tool for that job. Get the JigSaw blades for fancy cuts. sometimes a small piece of siding gets stuck in the jaws making it hard to start the next cut. Just poke it out with a nail and you're good. If you don't care about the start of the next cut, just push the tool onto the work and the chunk will kick out. Makes the start a bit messy, but no big.

It's very hard to get a clean starting cut and aways has some chip out at end of cut. I have practice on scape pieces of Hardie lap siding with little improvement. I found scribing a line first with a Hardie backer carbide scribe tool helps greatly. The starts are good but still some chip out at end of cut. This method is too time consuming. Cutting with saw is much faster but very dusty which is why I bought this cutter. By the time I starting using the shear tool, it was too late to send back. The shear tool is quality built and cuts easily through the siding with cordless drill. The top lapping siding can cover an upper edge chip out but you need a clean edge at the bottom. It would work fine for Hardie backer board. Chip outs can be filled with thinner.