If you haven’t heard these Tusk Silent Timber blades in operation you can’t fully appreciate what a difference they make. They are not silent but they are significantly quieter, and probably never squeal. These ultra-thin, deep-cutting, premium-quality saw blades are made especially for use on electric or cordless circular saws. They feature a patented sound and vibration cushioning design with a silver fluoride coating and tungsten carbide welded tips. They are especially useful in noise restricted environments, but they are better at any time. The dense solid steel core design results in smooth, precise cuts, and the ultra-thin kerf reduces load for longer blade and battery life.
Pricing for 165/185 x 1.6 x 52T x 20/16 blades starts from $70. See tusktools.co.nz to find Tusk stockists.
Child’s play
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.
