The Nørlund Foundation
Norlund A/S is 100% owned by the Nørlund Foundation, which also owns and operates Nørlund Forest, Tisted Nørskov, Tingskoven and Torstedlund Agriculture.
The Foundation’s activities also include Nørlund Castle, which is the Foundation’s common meeting point. The current building was built between 1581 and 1597 by Ludvig Munk, but the castle’s history dates back to the 14th century and Queen Magrethe I.
There was once a glassworks on the site where the sawmill now occupies 14.3 hectares. The glassworks was built on this very spot because it was fuelled by the forest and the nearby bog. The glassworks was owned by the Nørlund Estate, under squire and commander H.E. Bluhme, and closed after a few years. Instead, he founded the sawmill in 1878 and located it where there were also people who could be employed. The sawmill has not always had the same format as it has today. In the beginning, it produced clogs and sticks for butter churns and perhaps some building timber for the local farmers.
Back then, it was mostly hardwoods that were processed. Now it’s the other way round, now they only process softwood.
The Dream
The best sawmill in the Nordics to produce and deliver the right thing and with a smart use of all resources
Smart use of all resources means:
The core business
"Delivery of the right product to the customer on time"
The right product means:
The Core Values
"It is not difficult to make decisions when you know your values"
Quote: Roy Disney
Aktieselskabet Norlund A/S is the country’s largest sawmill for cutting softwood for construction timber, intended for both the Danish and European markets.
Today, Norlund consists of one modern production unit in Nørlund, which processes softwood from all over the country. Norlund is the largest Danish sawmill in terms of production of timber & construction timber for the Danish as well as the European construction sector.
All machines at Norlund are state-of-the-art and have been updated in recent years, resulting in a high level of quality, high productivity, and a very large capacity to offer the market.
Annually, we process over 180,000 m³ of raw wood at the sawmill, primarily red spruce, Sitka spruce and silver fir from the Danish forests.
Norlund was the first softwood sawmill in Denmark to be CE certified according to the international standard EN 14081-1, which deals with visual strength grading of construction wood. In 2017, Norlund – as the first sawmill in Denmark – was also certified for machine sorting of construction timber.
Norlund is also certified within FSC, PEFC and ISPM15.
Everything from production is used for finished products, such as: Danish timber, rafters, roof battens, joists, packaging wood, etc. Waste wood in the form of sawdust, screen, bark and chips is used for resale to e.g. slaughterhouses, riding schools, power/heating plants, brickworks, pellet production and cellulose – nothing goes to waste.
Norlund works with Energy Management and continuously initiates projects to minimise the company’s total energy consumption. In 2022, Norlund will transition to being certified in Environmental Management.
In 2005, our former sawmill burned to the ground and the sawmill was rebuilt and modernised in 2006 with a high-tech HEW saw line.
The saw line produces at 60-90 m/min. in throughput. Max. capacity corresponds to 1,500 m³ raw wood / 5-10,000 logs or approx. 750 m³ finished products per day.
The sawmill can handle logs from 3 to 6 metres in length and with a maximum diameter of 45 cm. A maximum height/width of 200 mm can be sawn.
In 2013, the state-of-the-art HEW sawmill was expanded with 40 new sorting boxes to the existing sorting line, bringing the total number of sorting boxes to 58.
A deformation scanner was also installed, which improves the sorting quality and rejects skewed boards or workpieces with too much curvature. Overall, the saw line is the most modern saw line in Denmark.
In 2013 we installed a state-of-the-art planing machine from Rosens in Sweden, which tripled our capacity. The planer has a speed of 80-200 metres per minute and can plane on 4 sides simultaneously, cut lengthwise, split and groove
on the side faces.
In 2017, we established a machine sorting system so that from mid-2017, we have been able to strength sort C24 in Red Spruce, Sitka Spruce and Norway Spruce as the first company in Denmark.
The planing system can handle anything from 2.4 metres up to 6 metres in
length and a maximum width of 300 mm*.
Drying rooms
We have a total of 10 drying rooms with a capacity of approximately 60,000 m³ per year.
In 2011, we installed Genvex in all drying rooms.
The drying rooms are heated with wood produced in-house. In 2021, we installed a brand new software management system for our drying rooms – Socrates Advanced. The system helps with more drying and minimising electricity consumption.
In 2022, our drying rooms were re-insulated to also minimise heat consumption.
* In 2022 we purchased a new production facility. The block saw is used for cutting longer and thicker dimensions in timber.
If you would like to join us, you are very welcome to send an unsolicited application.