Abstract: One jaw of a heavy duty shear having relatively pivotal jaws is provided with piercing and cutting tip blades which provide linear cutting edges extending transverse to the pivot axis of the jaws and piercing edges extending parallel to the pivot axis. Each blade includes a plurality of cutting edges and piercing edges, and the blades are adapted to be both re-oriented and reversed with respect to an initial mounting disposition on the jaw for selectively positioning the cutting and piercing edges relative to cooperable blades on the other jaw of the shear.