THOMASVILLE FURNITIURE BUILDING COMPETITION
RULES and REGS
Updated Wednesday, April 9th 

Link to Furniture Build off Form to hand in

Register Online!!!  Click Here to Register!

Please refer to this website often because there will be updates made every few days about materials, prizes, etc. Or you may contact Mark Scott at Thomasville Tourism (472-4422 or 1 800-611-9907) with any questions.

Next update anticipated to be on the website sometime Tuesday, April 15th. 

Though this is a competition, our desire is to bring attention to the craft of furniture making; bring attention to Thomasville, "The Chair City"; and to have fun while bringing attention to our craftsmen who make up this competition. 

Plaques or unique awards will be given for the best overall piece and for the top two pieces in each category.

(The top overall will NOT be considered for top 2 in either category.)

Awards will be announced and presented in a ceremony open to the public at the competition site Sunday, May 18th at 3:30pm

IF possible, monetary awards will also be given to the 5 winners.

Designs/Pictures or sketches of the proposed pieces are due by May 1, 2008.

Pieces will be judged on how well they meet the design, their beauty, their functionality and how well teams cleaned up their personal work space.

Judges will be from design companies, lumber companies, etc.

Designs of pieces REMAIN the property of the competitors...HOWEVER, the finished pieces will become the property of the competition organizers.

The plan is to have the finished pieces on display for a period of time before later auctioning them off with the money going to cover costs of the competition and proceeds to go toward the next competition and/or charity.

Contestants may bid on their pieces or other pieces at the auction to be held later in the summer.

The field will be limited to 16 total teams (Comprised of no more than 4 and no less than 2 people).

Team members MUST be at least 16-years-old and must be at least 18-years-old to operate power tools.

Our desire is to have 8 teams in the chair competition and 8 teams in the "open" competition.

Therefore, you may be put on hold until the final week of April if we do not have enough teams in one category. We will take people on first come first serve basis otherwise.

The entry fee is $60 per team, regardless of how many people are on the team.

Contestants will be required to provide their own hardware.

Contestants will be required to provide their own materials for finishing if they choose to "finish" their piece.

Contestants will be furnished with all wood materials and are NOT allowed to bring any wood or veneer materials.

We do NOT know exactly what types or the quantity of wood that will be available. HOWEVER, we are being assured that we will have an AMPLE amount of wood for each team and we will likely have multiple species of wood to choose from as we are getting the wood from a company that supplies furniture manufactureres

*Check this site for updates on the wood. ALSO, with your entry, please specify the amounts and types of wood you prefer. Again, we will update on this site and contact you individually as soon as we find out if we can fulfil your request.

Packet pick up (with finalized printed rules and instructions), and any pre-set up of personal tools MUST be done between Noon and 6pm, Wednesday, May 14th. Packet pick up will be at the Thomasville Visitors' Center (44 W. Main St. Thomasville). From there you will be taken the few blocks to the competition site for any pre-set up.

The competition site will be locked at 6pm Wednesday night and at 8pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights and will not open until the competition resumes each morning. The competition site is at a business; Therefore, contestants are NOT to approach the facility prior to Wednesday, May 14th. Each personal work area and personal tool area will be plenty large enough. You can check this site later for exact dimensions.

There will be plenty of tables available for working with the wood.

The competition will be held at the old Thomasville Plant "V" off West Main St. in Thomasville near the Whistle Stop Cafe'. We will provide directions and exact address on the next update.

All work must be done in the space designated in the factory where the competition is to be housed.

Each team will have a personal work area as well as a personal work area away from the sawdust for "finishing" their pieces. There will also be shared areas for the power tools.

ONLY battery operated tools may be used in competitors' personal work area.

There is NO limit on bringing personal tools, hardware or finishes.

Upholstered finishing will be allowed, but no equipment will be provided for this and be sure to leave ample space showing on your piece for judges to see your workmanship.

With your entry form, you can submit what power tools you anticipate needing.

We will list tools and equipment that we will be providing on the next update.

Teams will check-in for a MANDATORY safety demonstration (for safety and for insurance purposes) Thursday morning at 7am, May 15th. Anyone not attending this demonstration, will not be allowed to compete in any phase as it would be difficult for us to remember who did and did not attend the demonstration. So anyone not attending the entire safety demonstration will not be allowed in any work area except as a spectator.

Two members of the team MUST be together at all times in the power tool area.

Competitors will be allowed to begin work at 8am Thursday, May 15th until 8pm that night with a 1 hour mandatory break around Noon.

Work may resume at 8am Friday to 8pm Friday with another 1 hour mandatory break around Noon. The same hours will be allowed on Saturday.

*If there is media that would like to cover this event in their early morning newscast, competitors will be told that they can come in prior as early as 6am to allow for this. Otherwise, it will be 8a-8p Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Power tools will be taken out at the end of Saturday's competition. Sunday, the area will be open for finishing and final touches on the pieces from 8am-1pm.