Wayne Cotton
Woodturnings
A New Hampshire native, Wayne grew up in Meredith and moved to the Monadnock Region to attend Keene State College. He and his wife Sandy made Keene their home, where they raised their children, Jennifer and Michael. His first teaching position was at Fall Mountain teaching graphic arts, drafting, and woodworking. After six years, with the experience he obtained, he started a position at Keene High School teaching welding, woodworking and applied physics. He earned his Masters of Education at Keene State and became the Director of the Cheshire Career Center at Keene High, a position he held for sixteen years.
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After thirty-two years in education and always wondering "is this all there is," he decided to take "early retirement" and explore opportunities in the private sector. With fortunate timing he was hired as the engineering manager at Whitney Brothers in Keene. Whitney manufactures furniture used in early childhood and daycare centers. During this experience he designed products, managed inventory, completed a software upgrade which merged design and CNC programming functions and he also served as safety and compliance officier.
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Woodworking has been his hobby since he was in grade school. He is essentially self-taught, learning by trial and error, practice, reading books, and searching the internet. He is an active member of the Manadnock Woodturners group. This is a local resource for wood turners to meet, share tips, techniques, and learn from others. For the past fifteen years he has focused on segmented wood turning. Segmented involves cutting individual small wedges of wood, combining different species to create color patterns or designs, and gluing them together to create bowls, plates, or platters. His intent is for all of his pieces to be utilitarian and, with basic care, provide many years of service.