Mike Sellers was a retired police officer and teacher before he became the man behind Woodpappy Designs, crafting everything from pens to bowls. Now, Sellers shares his passion for wood with customers at local vendor events like Small Business Saturday.
This year marks Sellers’ third time participating in Small Business Saturday in downtown Lexington. The event, held on Nov. 30, only had two vendors this year, down from 12 vendors and a food truck in 2023, according to Linda Parish, office manager for the Chamber of Commerce.
“We thought we’d get some more traffic from the ball game,” Parish said. “And it was cold, so maybe that was part of it.”
The cold didn’t keep Sellers away from the event because he said he prefers meeting people face to face.
“I don’t really sell a whole lot online,” Sellers said. “I do sell some, but I usually sell to the customers that come up because I like dealing with people and talking to them.”
Before retiring to his woodworking shop in Oglethorpe County, Sellers spent 34 years in law enforcement, working as a police officer in Columbus and Gwinnett County. He said his career highlight was solving the case of the Columbus Stocking Strangler, a serial killer who targeted elderly women in the late 1970s.
“After eight years, I was able to determine that Carlton Gary was indeed the Columbus Stocking Strangler,” Sellers said.
For Sellers, that case was a defining moment.
“This is what you work for,” he said. “To be able to solve crimes and stop killers.”
As a young detective, Sellers said the breakthrough made him realize “that I was meant to be a police officer.”
“I just like being out, meeting folks,” Sellers said. “And I like working with my hands. It was good hands-on police work.”
In April of 2002, Sellers’ career as a police officer took a turn when he was severely injured in a head-on collision with a drunk driver while on duty.
“I went from being able to pick up logs and log boards and all that, to working at the police with much smaller stuff,” Sellers said. “It, in essence, ended my career.”
It was a difficult transition for Sellers, moving from the police work he had done for 34 years. Fortunately, he had already found ways to keep his hands busy during his off-duty time.
“Over the years, when I wasn’t policing, I’d tinker around with things with my hands,” Sellers said. “So when I got hurt and couldn’t police anymore, I decided to start doing something else.”
Sellers had already begun making wooden pens during his time in law enforcement.
“I first started making pens with my lathe and gave them to the officers I worked with,” Sellers said. “Some people would say, 'No, let me give you $10 or whatever.'"
His hobby gradually evolved into a business, although Sellers is hesitant to call it that.
“It’s not really a business,” Sellers said. “I don’t have to do this to survive because I have my retirement, and I planned well. I do this because I love working with my hands, and I love meeting people.”
After retiring from law enforcement, Sellers moved to Oglethorpe County and spent 12 years as an investigator for the Athens-Clarke County Attorney’s Office. He brought his love for woodworking with him.
In 2012, Sellers became hooked on the idea of crafting something from the wood of Athens’ famous Tree That Owns Itself. Fallen limbs would likely be taken to a landfill and discarded, which Sellers said would be “a waste.”
“I went by there probably once or twice a week for five years,” Sellers said. “One day I came across a limb, a good size limb. It was probably about 10 or 12 foot long.”
From that one limb, he’s crafted more than 20 pens.
“I have a little card giving the history of the tree and that I did not cut any about it, he’s not dead, and all that kind of stuff,” Sellers said.
For Sellers, woodworking is more than crafting items — it’s about finding new life in what others might discard.
“I look at a piece of wood before I start working on it, and I, in essence, say to myself, ‘Let’s see what’s hiding inside here,’” Sellers said.
Whether it’s pens crafted from the Tree That Owns Itself or bowls made from the 2023 Athens Christmas tree, Sellers discovers new life in discarded wood.
“I love discovering what I can make out of this and that,” he said.
Sellers’ commitment to repurposing wood earned him the title of “Woodpappy,” which inspired the name of his business, Woodpappy Designs.
“I have four grandchildren, and when they were growing up, especially out here where I live now, in the country in Oglethorpe, they always called me Pappy,” Sellers said. “One day, one of them asked me, ‘Why are you always playing with wood?’ and I looked and said, ‘Well, I guess because I’m the Woodpappy.’ And it just stuck.”