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Author Topic: Greetings from Norway / DR Congo  (Read 18713 times)

Offline LeFranck

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Greetings from Norway / DR Congo
« on: August 09, 2011, 12:15:34 PM »
It was my lucky day when I came across this forum.
I hope that I can do my part making this forum active.

My name is Frank Thoresen. I'm a Norwegian sawmill owner in DR Congo.

I started back in 2007 together with my Congolese childhood friend Willy Itomo.

We started the sawmill with only some basic equipments. A couple of Logosol Big Mill LSG that we had to modify to cope with the large timber.
After 6 months waiting the new Mobile Dimension Saw 128 arrived Bondo.

Logosol in Sweden made an article about our sawmill. I guess this article in English was for the US market:
You can download the pdf file here:
https://rapidshare.com/files/3878808791/Logosol._Freshcut_Magazin_-The_sawmill_in_Bondo__DR_Congo.pdf

I got several questions that I will present here :-)
« Last Edit: August 09, 2011, 12:24:07 PM by LeFranck »
Frank Thoresen

Mobile Dimension Saw 128



Pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/focusbondo/

Offline Kirk Allen

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Re: Greetings from Norway / DR Congo
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2011, 01:56:09 PM »
Welcome aboard Frank!  Glad to have another Mobile Dimension owner on the site.

Lets see, Frank Pender - MD Owner, Frank Thoresen- MD Ownder.  Must be something with the name Frank and MD Mills  :D

You should be able to ATTACH the PDF file instead of linking to a file share site.  It appears they want money to sign up to download from it and few are going to do that. 
Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching!

Offline LeFranck

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Sv: Greetings from Norway / DR Congo
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2011, 02:38:04 PM »
I got an album on Flickr where you can see my our work, our town and country:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/focusbondo/
Frank Thoresen

Mobile Dimension Saw 128



Pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/focusbondo/

Offline LeFranck

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Sv: Greetings from Norway / DR Congo
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2011, 02:45:37 PM »
Welcome aboard Frank!  Glad to have another Mobile Dimension owner on the site.

Lets see, Frank Pender - MD Owner, Frank Thoresen- MD Ownder.  Must be something with the name Frank and MD Mills  :D

You should be able to ATTACH the PDF file instead of linking to a file share site.  It appears they want money to sign up to download from it and few are going to do that.  

I hope to get in touch with Frank Pender asap. Need to crank up my knowledge about the MD mill and some of its secrets.

Don't worry about the server. I'm already paying for it and Its ALL FREE for you to download.
Frank Thoresen

Mobile Dimension Saw 128



Pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/focusbondo/

Offline joasis

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Re: Greetings from Norway / DR Congo
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2011, 07:01:24 AM »
Another welcome as well, glad to have you!
Ladwig Construction
Hennessey, Oklahoma
    405 853 1563

If anyone has any issues, I can be reached at the number above, anytime.

Offline LeFranck

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Re: Greetings from Norway / DR Congo
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2011, 05:14:44 AM »
http://www.sawmillandtimberforum.com/index.php/topic,58.new.html#new
My answer to Stevem:

Here I'm going to try explain my work in Bondo, DR Congo.

The first sawmill at the Norwegian baptist mission started back in the 1950's. The sawmill became disused before the war came to Congo in 1996.


I came to Bondo in 1985 when the sawmill was working great. The sawmill served the town Bondo and the region Bas-Uele.

I met Willy Itomo at the age of 12, he 15. The photo to the right is from 2008

 

In 2006, 17 years later I went back to Norway in 1989 he called me. It was like we had been apart for just a couple of years.
With the great contact we agreed on starting a sawmill for the development of Bondo. Willy said that in the late 90.s the lumber in Bondo was hard to produce. His pitsaw mill produced lumber from one log pr months. The price for one plank was 70 USD.
In 2006 Bondo had just two small sawmill using free style chainsaw cutting.
I kicked started the sawmill by sending 4000 USD for buying a Stihl 090-AV and a Stihl 600 slabbing frame for the chainsaw.

In 2008 I went down to Bondo with a couple of Logosol Big Mill LSG. We modified the saw frame for large slabs.

 

This work went on to 2009. Coming to Bondo I saw that the need for lumber was greater than our production could handle.
The locals were building their houses and the catholic mission building a new hospital and fixing their largest school.

The African Development Bank gave finances to the government for rebuilding all the general hospitals in the province of Oriental.
We had to invest better equipments, if not there would not be any development in Bondo or in the region of Bas-Uele.
Our sawmill is the only one with continual production north for the province capital Kisangani.

I bought the Mobile Dimension in fall 2010. I had a hard time finding a route to ship it into Northern Congo. The sawmill was sent with air cargo to Entebbe in Uganda.
It took 6 months for the sawmill to reach Bondo.

The sawmill is now at work and producing lumber.

The sawmill is a real test for us:
- We have no real roads in the north. Just dirt tracks. Almost everything comes in with bicycles or airplane.
- No stable communication with the outside world. The GSM system is breaking down every week.
- Congo is a real nightmare when it comes to logistic (national transportation and import to Congo).
- No functional hospitals for us or the workers. just health centers with pirate medicine from China.
- Great deal of official corruption.  

Our sawmill is both a business and a humanitarian work.
Bas-Uele has always been called "The forgotten corner of Congo".
We are trying to establish a business that can make the development possible for the people here.
I can list up dozen of things that is needed for the people in Bondo and the region to survive.
I'm the only white there working as a private. The two others are catholic missionaries.

Steve. You asked if we have someone who backs us up.
There has been some few the last years from private persons. In the 4 years I have been working there I've got in total 10.000,- USD.

This work is my love to the people in Bondo and Congo.
« Last Edit: August 14, 2011, 05:24:09 AM by LeFranck »
Frank Thoresen

Mobile Dimension Saw 128



Pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/focusbondo/

Offline LeFranck

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Re: Greetings from Norway / DR Congo
« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2011, 09:34:26 AM »
Here are some pictures from some sawmilling sites in Bondo:













 
Frank Thoresen

Mobile Dimension Saw 128



Pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/focusbondo/

Offline LeFranck

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Re: Greetings from Norway / DR Congo
« Reply #7 on: August 22, 2011, 05:58:35 PM »

Logosol in Sweden made an article about our sawmill. I guess this article in English was for the US market:
You can download the pdf file here:
https://rapidshare.com/files/3878808791/Logosol._Freshcut_Magazin_-The_sawmill_in_Bondo__DR_Congo.pdf

I had to fix the PDF link. It had an error.
Try this link instead:
https://www.rapidshare.com/files/3878808791/Logosol.Freshcut_Magazin_The_sawmill_in_Bondo_DR_Congo.pdf
« Last Edit: August 22, 2011, 06:20:25 PM by LeFranck »
Frank Thoresen

Mobile Dimension Saw 128



Pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/focusbondo/

Offline kpantherpro

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Re: Greetings from Norway / DR Congo
« Reply #8 on: August 07, 2012, 12:49:52 PM »
wow, good to see people are still willing to work hard for something they believe in... and for others, cool man