The maker
Paul Sherman, at the lathe since 2006.
A one-person workshop in Paragould, Arkansas, where every pen, stopper, call and carved sign is made start to finish by the same person who answers the phone.
The story
It started with one pen.
Paul turned his first pen in 2006. It was not perfect — the finish was thin and the fit was a fraction off — but it wrote, and someone kept it in their pocket for years. That is still the measure he works to: not whether a piece photographs well, but whether it gets used.
Two decades later the shelves hold maple burl, olive wood, box elder, stabilized blanks, fordite, colorwood and clear-cast resin with objects suspended inside. Some of it Paul sourced, some of it customers brought in — a plank from a family barn, a coin from a grandfather, a spent cartridge from a first hunt.
In 2019 a CNC joined the lathe. It brought carved signs, 3D relief work and clean engraving into the shop, but it did not change the process. Paul still designs each piece against the material in front of him and still finishes everything by hand.
He works alone, which is the point. When you write to this workshop, you are writing to the person who will make your piece.
Twenty years
How the workshop grew.
2006
The first lathe
Paul started turning pens in a corner of the garage. What began as a way to spend an evening turned into the discipline that shaped everything since.
2010s
Beyond pens
Bottle stoppers, duck calls, keepsake boxes and one-off commissions. The lathe work broadened, but the rule stayed the same: make one good thing at a time.
2019
The CNC arrives
Carved signs, 3D relief work and precise engraving joined the workshop, letting Paul combine machine accuracy with hand-finished character.
Today
One maker, one bench
Paul still makes every piece himself in Paragould, Arkansas, and still talks to every customer directly before anything is cut.
How Paul works
Four things that do not change.
One pair of hands
No production line and no subcontracting. If you own a piece from this workshop, Paul made it.
The material leads
Grain, figure and colour decide the final shape. Paul will tell you honestly when a material will not do what you are hoping.
Honest conversation
You get a real answer on cost, timing and what is possible before any money changes hands.
Made to be used
These are working objects. Pens to write with, stoppers to open, calls to blow — finished to survive being handled every day.
The material library
What is on the shelf.
A working selection rather than a fixed menu. If you have something specific in mind, ask.
Wood
Black Walnut
- Appearance
- Deep chocolate brown with occasional purple and gold streaks.
- Natural variation
- Color lightens toward the sapwood; every board differs.
- Suits
- Pens · Bottle stoppers · Signs · Carvings
- Example creation
- Bolt-Action Pen in Black Walnut
Materials come and go with what Paul can source. Ask Paul about current availability before settling on one.
Start a conversation
Start a conversation with the maker.
Tell Paul what you are imagining. He will tell you honestly whether he can make it, and what it will take.
Prefer to talk it through? (870) 273-2140