A Kerrison rongeur employing a shearing/cutting or grasping mechanism, and suited for specific cutting and sampling bone, cartilage and soft tissue. A slideable upper member has on its advancing face a cutting element that moves past an opposing cutting element on a stationary footplate to produce a shearing action of tissue positioned within the jaws. The cutting element of the slideable member may move past the stationary member on the outside in an overbite situation or on the inside in an underbite situation. A hybrid over/underbite jaw is also contemplated along with a guillotine cutting element and a textured grasping element. In operation, the tissue is placed between the jaw and footplate, and the former is advanced towards the latter to cut and/or grasp and remove for a surgical site.
