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The
workshop at Palmer Station
Palmer Station, built on solid rock, is located on a protected
harbor of Anvers Island off the Antarctica Peninsula. The
base has a maximum occupancy of 42 people and the shop is
accessible to the hobby woodworker. Again, it features an
excellent assortment of power tools, including a heavy-duty
lathe. "I also found an amazing wall-hung tool cabinet
chock full of hand planes, scrapers and chisels, all of which
were razor sharp", said Frank.
Given that trees and shrubs don't grow in Antarctica, every
single scrap of wood has to be brought in by icebreaking supply
ships. "For most projects built there, we build with
really high-quality marine-grade plywood. Most of it comes
from Chile for Palmer Station and [from] New Zealand for McMurdo
and the South Pole." Since every ounce of cargo is vital,
nothing goes to waste. Shipping crates are broken down into
usable boards and all scrap plywood and other building lumber
is reused.
Besides the commonplace safety issues any woodworker must
address, there is one threat that has to be first and foremost
on the mind of everyone assigned to the bases. "Fire
is a huge issue on the ice, especially on the South Pole.
The Pole is so dry that once a board starts to burn, it goes
up in seconds, just amazingly fast. Everywhere you look, you'll
see fire extinguishers and there's a plethora of fire-fighting
equipment there."
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