🪚 Meet The Sawdust Sage™

Handcrafted words from a life well-lived.

James Allen, known to many as The Sawdust Sage™, is a retired project manager, lifelong storyteller, and co-founder of All*En Crafts™, along with his wife Lexie, The Gnome Wrangler™ — a small business rooted in craftsmanship, poetry, and the joy of making things that matter.

Born in Iowa in 1962 and raised in a small town, James grew up surrounded by humility, humor, and hands-on wisdom. He graduated from Iowa State University with a degree in Management Information Systems and earned his MBA from Drake University, balancing a long corporate career with a calling to teach — and later, to write.

After three decades navigating deadlines, software rollouts, and business transformations, James retired in 2024. Rather than slow down, he pivoted: trading project plans for planers, emails for easels, and corporate stress for sawdust. Alongside his wife Lexie, he launched All*En Crafts™, combining custom woodworking with his growing catalog of original poems and reflections.

Today, James writes under The Sawdust Sage™ — a name that reflects his love of good tools, timeless truths, and the kind of wisdom you can actually use. His work blends quiet humor, gentle encouragement, and honest reflection, whether he’s writing about parenting, patriotism, aging, faith, or the simple magic of a well-worn workshop.

In May 2025, he sold his first official poem as The Sawdust Sage™. Since then, his signature Sageisms™ — concise, heartfelt pieces available as matted prints — have found their way into homes, hearts, and gift bags across Iowa and beyond.

If you’ve ever needed the right words at the right time, odds are The Sawdust Sage™ has them — lovingly carved, one verse at a time.

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A Thoughtful Note from The Sawdust Sage™
We strive for originality in everything we create. James, The Sawdust Sage™, believes in giving credit where credit is due—because good ideas deserve respect, no matter where they come from.

While the bulk of our work is 100% original and protected by copyright, we also know that creativity doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Some Sageisms™ may be sparked by timeless dad jokes, grandpa’s one-liners, classic memes, or anonymous bits of brilliance passed through generations. When the original source is known, we gladly give credit. When it’s not… we simply tip our hat and say: whoever you were, thanks—we thought it was funny too.