Alois Schmid's basement workshop

This article by Alois Schmid, translation to English, and layout by Matthias

My workshop is in the basement. Here you can see part of the floor plan. Rooms #1 and #2 are the workshop. Room #3 is general storage and for the dust collection system. Room #4 is for firewood storage. Rooms #3 and #4 are under the garage.

Room #1 is 5.3 x 5.0 meters (17'4" x 16'7")
Room #2 is 4.3 x 2.3 meters (14'1" x 7'6")

This is room #1. My Felder table saw with built-in shaper (the shaper spindle is lowered into the table in this photo)

This is where I keep patterns and templates from old projects. Also piles of short wood for a new bandsaw frame.

The box on the floor is on wheels, and I dump swept-up dust and shavings into it.

My workbench, and a wood stove for cold days in the winter.

A piece of the base of a spruce I cut down, converted to a tool holder.

The wall tool cabinet originally started out as a gun carrying case that did not turn out quite right.

At right, a better gun case that I built later.

My router table, with lots of compartments for wood screws and handheld power tools. The router table is often used as a shelf, or as a drafting table.

My jointer / thickness planer. Left of it you can see to room #2. On the right, the 1:1 printout for my new bandsaw, and in the corner, the fence for my router table.

Here again, you can see to room #2. Also, my clamp rack in the back.

Above the table saw, you can see my table saw laser

The dust collection ducts on the ceiling will soon be extended to my router table.

Looking into room #2, with my lathe, bandsaw, drill press, and door to rooms #3 and #4.

A simple contraption to let me use my lathe as a disk sander.

My lathe, with dust collection box. Dust from sanding gets sucked in through the grid of holes in the box.

There are two flaps that open at the bottom of the box, which I can open depending on the work I'm doing. These catch some of the shavings while I'm turning.


There is also a slot on the bottom for sweeping shavings into.

A workbench, with my drill press, and my soon to be replaced bandsaw.

A view from room #2 to room #1.


My thickness sander. The machine is open on one side, which allows me to sand up to 1.2 meters wide. The machine is usually in room #3, and I only roll it into the shop when I need it.

I use a branding iron to mark all my work. The logo, "SA", stands for "Schmid, Alois".

I also have a mirror image version of the branding iron, so that it can be read off the inside of a guitar with a mirror.