Many of the standard features of today’s portable circular saws originate from Festool’s TS55.
The latest generation of TS55s are innovating again with an ultra slimline housing providing a side clearance of only 12mm, and a guide wedge for greater safety and precision. A movable, transparent window also offers a clear view of the scribe mark.
The current RRP of $1090 plus GST, includes an extraction attachment, saw blade and 1400mm guide rail. Order number 561655.
For more information see http://hml.co.nz/
Child’s play
9 May 2025
When you are a carpenter by trade with an interest in cars and still young at heart, making wooden toys has to be the perfect retirement occupation—although many of Alan Gray’s “toys” are not the sort of playthings you would put in the hands of small children. His meticulously crafted vintage vehicles, fashioned mostly from native timbers, mahogany and macrocarpa, can take around 60 hours to make and are more collectors’ pieces.
To keep the real kids happy, he has a more robust range mostly made from pinus radiata— diggers, trucks, pull-along hippos and the like.
Alan, 71, and his wife, Lesley, have been living in Cromwell for the past six years. Originally from Dunedin, Alan trained as a carpenter but turned his hand to fishing after moving to Stewart Island. He then spent the best part of three decades skippering boats for the Department of Conservation.
