Colin Coombes adjusts his neatly ironed collar and tie, picks up his meat cleaver, and sets to work with a solid thwack.
It is 60 years since Mr Coombes, who turns 75 on Monday, started in the butchery business, and he marvels at how he still has all his digits, despite working with sharp knives every day.
Mr Coombes says it is certainly not a job for the squeamish.
During the past 60 years, he has had many serious injuries. In fact, he reckons he has had almost as many stitches as Frankenstein.
He cut all the tendons in one hand in one incident, and in another incident he nearly lost a finger when he used his hands to scrape meat scraps off a chopping board into a disposal container, only to find someone had left a knife underneath the meat.
Pointing to a plaster on his thumb, he recalled nearly sending his hand through a band saw while cutting chops last week.
"It's the first time I've ever cut myself with a band saw.
"I've had a few accidents over the years, but I've never lost anything. I've still got all my digits.
"It's quite rare in this line of work. There's a lot of butchers out there missing the ends of their fingers.
"It's the type of job that you have to keep your wits about you.''
When he was 15, he left school to work at W. Duke & Sons Butchery in George St, where his brothers also worked.
"That was where they taught me all the tricks of the trade.''
Then in the 1960s, he went to Henderson's Butchery near Howe St, before opening his own butchery in Pine Hill in 1966.
After he sold the butchery years later, he went to work for Bezett's Butchery, before opening another of his own butcheries in the late 1970s, this time in Princes St.
In 1986, he sold the business, and since then he has worked at George Mills, PPS and Fred Eskrick Butchers.
His experience is such that he has never been given a comradely nickname, and he is known for wearing a shirt and tie to work every day.
"I've always worn a shirt and tie to work. I get up in the morning and it's just automatic. I was always taught, wear a tie.''
Today, Mr Coombes works part-time at Deep Creek Deli in Northeast Valley.
He said he would like to continue working as long as he can, or until he hits something vital with his knife.
"I've still got a few years left in me yet. I'm not ready to throw the towel in yet.''
