Veteran wood-carver Peter Adams has been sprucing up the towns of the Mid North with his fantastic creations.

Mr Adams has always had a knack for being a handyman since his parents first asked him to climb up a burning tree to cut off a branch with a chainsaw at the age of nine.

As the nation was locked away during the pandemic, it was the perfect time for Mr Adams to start carving sculptures out of timber.

This hobby and passion and now become his full-time career which has also helped keep his mind in a positive state.

"I have been doing woodwork for more than 25 years," he said.

His first piece was carved years ago when he made a table and chairs out of a fallen pine tree for an enthusiast in Clare. Then he was just doing little carvings here and there and has slowly grown into a business.

Mr Adams gets all his timber for free as he helps farmers to clear the burnt timber from the Bangor bushfire out of their creeks so he can use it to create a sculpture or a piece of furniture.

"That's my main thing at the moment, is cleaning up all that rubbish timber and saving it and putting it into households," he said.

"Instead of burning it, I'm trying to make artwork out of it.

The burnt redgum from the Bangor bushfire is the main type of timber he uses now, but also the odd tree from Wirrabara Forest.

Mr Adams said every carving is just more practise to fine-tune his skills.

He is now carving out a massive project that will involve 12 sculptures that will feature in Port Pirie and all the way along through Port Germein Gorge, Laura, Wirrabara and Crystal Brook.

Different pictures will be carved on each piece of timber so tourists and drivers can see them as they go between the townships.

One of them will feature a horse jumping logs, but others will show more animals as well as depict a tradie working on powerlines.

To create his art, he used a tiny battery operated chainsaw which is thin-tipped with a small chain, He also uses a straight hand-grinder to make shapes and details on the wood. Another tool is an angle-grinder with a sanding disc on it.

His finishing touches will get varnished or oiled, but most of his projects sell in natural rough colour.

He is making furniture for a new brewery in Melrose and created sculptures for the main street of Booleroo Centre.

Meanwhile, in Booleroo, Hunts Fuel will continue to pump petrol even after a new business is found for the service station building.

Last week it was reported that the History Society at Melrose won a grant. The correct figure was $525,249.

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