Ocean Waves

My name is Scott Hampton, a professional woodturner hailing from the city of Visalia that is in the San Joaquin Valley of California, and just a breath away from Sequoia National Park. Some years ago, with the encouragement and support of my family and fellow woodturning friends, I began the career of being a demonstrator, educator, and mentor of woodturning, with the hopes of traveling to visit and teach fellow woodturners across our great country about this wonderful and creative hobby. I caught the woodturning 'bug' back in 1999. A local woodworking store was having an open house and BBQ, so I made sure I did not miss it. As luck would have it, a well-known local woodturner named Jim Mathias was giving some demonstrations that caught my eye. I knew a bit about woodturning from making small furniture parts at home on my Shopsmith, but nothing compared to what he was making. Jim seemed to notice that I was a bit more curious than the average passerby, so he invited me to attend the upcoming meeting of the local AAW woodturning chapter. "Say what... they have clubs for this? I'll be there". So, two weeks later I was front row center at the meeting. And at this meeting, I began my many years of volunteering for the chapter by first picking up a broom and cleaning up the shavings. During my time with the chapter, I was the videographer for seventeen years, the newsletter editor for nine years, Chapter Secretary for two years, and Chapter President for two years. I have now been a full-time woodturner for nineteen years. I have had the good fortune of working alongside more than thirty of the most well-known woodturners from around the world, allowing me to learn the mastery of the craft, and how to put together and present a woodturning class that is inspiring, informative, and fun. I have taken all the different techniques I have learned from the professionals and combined them into my own distinctive style of woodturning and teaching.

- Scott Hampton