the dang things are tricky to sharpen....
Not even! Tin snips are dead simple to sharpen.
Just never touch the blades where they rub together. I call this the --insides-- of the blades.
The outsides? Where the bevel is? This is where you sharpen.
Try a fine tooth file, but they will probably be too hard. So grind instead.
Grind, following the original bevel, until you have a fat burr you can feel on the inside.
Close the snips once and it will take off the burr.
They will now cut like mad, but the edge won't last too long.
So take a coarse sharpening stone and go over them until you have a burr back.
Then a medium and last a fine stone.
Close the snips one least time and try them now.
Like buttah!
Sharpening is easy. Setting them for the correct drag that will cut in all conditions, but not be too hard to operate? This is harder.
But a bit of practice will work this out too.
Oh, one pair of quality snips trumps 7 pair of cheapies.
Even in the old days not all tools were first rate.
yours Scott